Awakening Love Reborn to Be His Duchess (Elowen Hale) novel Chapter 667

Chapter 667 A Mother’s Grief

Elowen wiped the tears from her face before looking quietly toward the grave.

“Ember,” she said softly, “if there’s another life after this one, let’s run the open fields together again. We’ll race beneath the wind, drink from the same stream, and lie in the grass watching the clouds drift across the sky.

A breeze swept through the valley just then, stirring the wildflowers and rustling through the treetops with a long, whispering sound that lingered in the air as though the mountain itself were answering her.

Like a promise.

Like a gentle and certain reply.

“Alright.”

Meanwhile, far away at the royal crypts, Isla finally arrived after dusk had already begun settling across the hills.

Cold wind swept through the vast burial grounds carrying the damp scent of old stone and rain-soaked earth, sharp enough to chill straight through bone.

Her carriage was stopped outside the cemetery gates.

“My Lady, the burial hour has already passed,” one of the royal attendants said stiffly. “His Majesty ordered the interment to begin precisely before sunset. Once the gates are sealed, no one may enter. Those are the royal rites, and we do not dare disobey them.”

Isla slowly pushed aside the carriage curtain, her expression dark and terrible.

Before sunset?

But the time delivered to her had been much later.

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She had survived inside the palace for too many years not to understand exactly what that meant.

Someone had done this deliberately.

Someone had intentionally fed her false information so she would miss her own son’s burial.

Isla narrowed her eyes coldly.

“You know who I am, and you still dare stand in my way?” she demanded. “I’m going to see my son one last time. Open the gates.”

The official immediately lowered himself deeply before her.

“My Lady, forgive us. His Majesty’s orders cannot be violated. Once the burial hour passes the crypts remain sealed. Those are ancient royal customs. We cannot break them.”

“Customs?” Isla’s voice suddenly sharpened. “My son is buried inside; and you’re telling me I’m forbidden

Chapter 667 A Mother’s Grief

from seeing him one last time because of some ridiculous ceremony?”

She stepped down from the carriage too quickly and nearly stumbled before Hilda rushed forward to support her.

But Isla shoved her aside almost immediately and strode toward the cemetery entrance without another word.

The officials hurried after her in alarm, trying desperately to stop her, but Isla never once slowed her pace, and in their panic they struggled to catch up.

At that moment, Alaric’s coffin still rested at the entrance to the underground crypt, not yet fully sealed away.

The black lacquered coffin looked enormous beneath the fading evening light, its polished surface gleaming coldly in the dusk.

Several workers were carrying out the final burial rites nearby, but the moment they saw Isla approaching, all of them immediately paled and dropped into deep bows.

Isla ignored every one of them.

Her eyes were red with grief as she stared fixedly at the coffin.

“Alaric,” she whispered hoarsely, “your mother came too late.”

Once someone died, the living somehow only remembered the good parts afterward.

No matter how many mistakes Alaric had made while alive, no matter how often he had defied her or angered her, he was still her son.

And now, when she thought of him, she no longer remembered the arguments or disappointments.

She remembered the infant she had once cradled in velvet blankets, pink-cheeked and sleeping peacefully in her arms.

She remembered the boy growing older little by little, bent over books beside the firelight while carefully practicing his letters.

At last, Isla reached out and rested trembling fingers against the cold coffin lid while tears streamed soundlessly down her face.

Then she began striking the coffin weakly with her hand as she cried.

Again and again.

The dull sound echoed through the crypt grounds heavily enough to make even the servants nearby lower

their heads.

“Open it.”

Her voice came suddenly.

Chapter 667 A Mother’s Grief

The workers kneeling nearby exchanged alarmed glances, but no one dared move.

“I said open it!” Isla screamed, tears streaking down her face. “I want to see my son one last time!”

The lead worker finally forced himself to speak.

“My Lady… the coffin has already been sealed. If we reopen it now…”

Before he could finish, Isla grabbed the iron lantern sitting nearby and hurled it directly at him.

The heavy metal edge struck his forehead instantly.

Blood poured down his face.

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“Are you deaf?” she shrieked. “I am Lady Delphine! I am the mother of the Crown Prince! I will see my son one final time, and no one here has the right to stop me!”

The worker did not even dare dodge.

The others immediately scrambled to obey, terrified of provoking her further.

They hurried forward with tools and broke apart the wax seals around the coffin before slowly forcing the heavy lid open with a groaning scrape.

“Enough. Leave.”

Isla’s voice turned ice-cold.

No one dared hesitate.

The workers retreated as quickly as possible until the burial chamber was left almost entirely silent.

Only then did Isla finally lower her gaze into the coffin.

And the moment she saw what lay inside, her entire body froze completely.

Alaric’s body rested there dressed in formal burial robes, his hands folded peacefully across his chest exactly as royal tradition required.

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But above the collar of those robes, where his head should have been, there was nothing.

Nothing at all.

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