Love's Unexpected Awakening Elowen's Choice novel Chapter 394

Chapter 394 A Mother’s Fear

Hugh remained silent.

:

Elowen answered softly. “It isn’t a physical illness. It comes from the heart.”

Aveline blinked in confusion. “From the heart?”

Elowen nodded. Aveline seemed ready to ask more questions, but Elowen spoke first.

“If you have a moment, would you walk with me in the garden?”

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Aveline turned and glanced toward her son’s courtyard gate before nodding. She pressed a handkerchief gently against the corners of her eyes and wiped away the tears.

Elowen began walking beside her along the winding path through the garden.

Hugh and the other attendants naturally slowed their pace and followed at a respectful distance.

As they walked, Aveline could not hold back her feelings.

“Your Grace,” she said with a trembling voice, “to be honest, Kaelan is my entire world. When I

gave

birth to him, I nearly lost my life. I fought through death itself just to bring him into this world. If anything were to happen to him, I… I wouldn’t be able to go on.”

Elowen listened quietly, sympathy softening her expression.

“I used to hear people say that a child is a piece of a mother’s own heart,” she said gently. “When I was younger, I never truly understood that. Only now, after becoming pregnant myself, do I finally begin to grasp what it means.”

Her hand rested lightly against her abdomen.

“Sometimes I catch myself wishing I could place every good thing in the world before this child.”

“Yes,” Aveline said, nodding quickly as tears began to flow again. “Exactly.”

“That’s why I’ve given Kaelan the best of everything I possibly could. Your Grace has no idea. The residence he lives in is the finest in the manor. Everything he eats, drinks, and uses has been chosen with the greatest care. And for his studies, I spent whatever it took to invite the most learned scholars in all of Vanelle to teach him.”

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11:08 Fri, Apr 24 M

Chapter 394 A Mother’s Fear

She took a deep breath before continuing.

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“I tell him often, Kaelan, my whole life’s hope rests on you passing the royal examinations and bringing honor to our family. If you fail, then everything I’ve done and every effort I’ve made will have been wasted. How could you bear to see your mother heartbroken?”

Elowen fell silent for a moment. There it is. That is exactly the problem.

If Kaelan heard those words day after day, it was no wonder the weight had become unbearable.

Elowen pressed her lips together briefly before speaking.

“Do you ever think,” she said gently, “that this might place too much pressure on him?”

“Pressure?” Aveline looked genuinely baffled. “All he does each day is stay at home reading and writing essays. He has nothing to worry about and no responsibilities to carry. What pressure could he possibly feel?”

Elowen realized that Aveline simply could not see the situation from Kaelan’s perspective.

In her mind, she had done everything she could to provide him with the most comfortable life imaginable. He did not need to worry about anything except studying.

Yet she had overlooked the fact that such overwhelming devotion, so constant and suffocating, had quietly become a burden he could barely carry.

“Your Grace,” Aveline said suddenly, turning toward her, “those things about unbearable pressure… did Kaelan really say them to you himself?”

Elowen nodded honestly.

Aveline sighed.

“He must still have feelings for you,” she said. “But he understands the difference in your positions and fears you might distance yourself from him. So he made up this excuse about pressure.”

Elowen did not argue immediately.

After a brief moment of silence, she raised her eyes and asked a question that seemed unrelated. “In your heart, what matters most?”

Aveline looked confused. “What do you mean?”

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11:09 Fri, Apr 24 M…

Chapter 394 A Mother’s Fear

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