A/N:In the Oxford Dictionary, Vivian is a male name, and Vivien is a female name, during Medieval Great Britain. Both of them can be called Viv. So I used Vivian as the name for the Prince based on the Oxford Dictionary. And this is my first fic so please R&R. Thanxs!
Chapter 1 Was The Prince Born?
It was nearly midnight, but the castle of Lord Bernard Arthur was still very animated and brightened by thousands of candle because the Lady Beth Arthur was in labor. Lord Bernard was holding his beloved wife's hand to support her, "It's my fault. I shouldn't let you go thru this danger." He felt painful seeing his wife getting paler. Her health had many problems before and one of the famous doctors suggested that she shouldn't be pregnant because she would die due to her difficult labor. "How useless am I." He scolded himself.
"It's not your fault. I want to have our son even if I die because of it. Don't scold yourself." She tenderly tried to comfort her husband. But her beautiful face abruptly contorted by labor pain. Her confidant maid Julia was kneeling near her bed and wiping her sweats.
The word 'die' stabbed his heart, "Don't say that terrible word. I love you. I just need you, not our son." He angrily turned to the midwife standing at the end of her bed, "Save only her if needed. If she dies, I will kill you."
Suddenly, a maid ran into the room, "Your Honor, Knight Albert came back from King Arthur's castle."
Lord Bernard frowned, "Tell him to take a rest. I will meet him after my wife's delivery."
"No. You should meet him right now. He must have the news of the new child of your oldest brother. Don't worry about me." His wife smiled with him.
He hesitated a while, "I can't leave you now, Beth."
"Meet him." She weakly said.
He stood up, "I will come back to you soon." He touched his wife's face and gently kissed her. Before leaving the room, he whispered into the midwife's ear, "Remember if you have to choose between her and the newborn, save her. If she dies, you will die with her."
The midwife glanced at him with a frightened look. And then she nodded, "Yes, my Lord."
Seeing her husband disappeared behind the door, Lady Arthur tiredly asked the midwife and her confidant maid, "April and Julia, promise me that you will save my child. Don't care about me." She bit her handkerchief tightly because of the labor pain. "Promise me, please. He needs a son for our region in future."
Julia, her maid, cried, "I promise. You will be all right."
April hesitated, "I promise." She quietly prayed, "God, protect her. If she die, that terrible Lord will kill me."
"What is your news?" Lord Bernard asked,
"The Queen gave birth to a girl this morning. King Arthur named her Victoria." Albert reported happily.
"A girl. After miscarrying many times, she delivered a girl." Lord Bernard laughed, "If my child is a son, the throne will belong to my family. Tell me how disappointed was he when seeing his child was a girl."
"I heard he told his assistants that he is waiting for your child. If it's a son, he will give his throne to your son in future. But if it's a girl, his daughter will be the Queen and his family still holds the throne." Albert answered.
Albert's answer woke up the Lord Bernard, "You may take a rest. I will call you later." He hurriedly walked to his wife's room. But he was numbed when Julia cried, "What happened?" He ran to his wife, "Beth, are you fine? Answer me?" He really panicked when noticing that she was immobile and pale as a corpse. "What's wrong?" He loudly asked Julia.
"She just gave a birth a few minute ago but I am afraid that she will die." Julia answered thru her cry.
"How about my baby? Boy or girl?" Lady Bernard asked so weakly that they hardly heard her question.
"A handsome boy." Julia quickly answered and winked at the midwife who wanted to tell Lady Bernard the truth. The soldiers guarding outside the room spread the news fast, "We have a prince." The enjoyable sound of many bells informing the prince was born torn the silent winter night. Nobody in the castle paid any attention to a mysterious hunchback- who frowned when hearing the news and secretly left there to the King's castle.
Lady Bernard smiled with her husband when hearing she gave a birth to a son. She knew how much her husband wanted to have a son to govern his regions as well as take over the King throne in future. Finally, she made his dream come true. She felt her body was getting colder and her heart was beating more slowly, "Can I hold my son a while?" She murmured.
Julia was abashed. Then she gently laid the baby into her arm, "Here he is, my highness."
"Our son is very cute. Vivian, mommy love you forever." She gently gave her last loving kiss to her newborn -who was still sleeping peacefully.
He held his wife's hand tightly, "Don't leave me. Our son and I need you." He cried. "Chop this stupid midwife's head off immediately." He angrily ordered the soldiers who guarded outside the room.
"Don't kill me. Lady asked me to save this baby." The midwife was shaking.
"Don't cut her head off, Lord. Her blood can scare the prince. Kill her by my poison liquid." Julia took out of her pocket a small red bottle containing an amber liquid.
"No. Don't kill me." The midwife was scared to death. Two soldiers grasped her arms, and the third tried to put the poison liquid into her mouth. She felt first her tongue and then her throat were numbed. The last image she saw was the Lord was holding his baby and crying near his wife's body. "Take care." She heard Julia whispered into her ear and the bell was tolling for her soul. Finally she lost her consciousness completely.
"Put her into my room. We will bury her tomorrow." Julia asked the soldier.
"Throw her outside for the wolves." Lord Bernard shouted. The soldiers left the room with midwife's body.
The baby suddenly cried in the dead Lady's arm. The Lord abashedly held the baby to comfort. But the blanket covering around the baby abruptly fell down. Lord Bernard froze, "My baby is a girl. Why did you tell us the baby is a boy?" He was stunned, 'It's ironical. I just laughed at my oldest brother. Now, I lost all my beloved wife and the King throne.'
"I just want to make her die in peace because she thought her wish came true. I heard that the Queen has a daughter. If you have a son, the throne will belong to your son soon. There are just you, April, and I knowing that your newborn is a girl. April can't tell anybody about this secret anymore. Why don't we make her to be a prince and a king of Britain in the future?" Julia looked at the Lord.
The mass of snows fell down incessantly. The cold winds discouraged anybody to walk outside. Three soldiers discarded the midwife's body onto the snow. One of them covered her with a thick coat made by lamb hair, "I don't know why Julia wanted to cover the corpse with a coat. She already died, so she couldn't felt cold anymore. Do you think Mrs. Julia has something wrong in her brain? " The soldier grumbled.
The others looked around scarily, "Don't talk about her like that. Do you know she is the Lord's right hand? I heard the Lord asked her to take care of the prince." They shivered when hearing the howl of wolves. "Let's go. It's very cold tonight". Snow covered the midwife's body and built a snow tomb.
"Stop here. What is on the snow?" A man sitting on the horseback pointed his finger to a heap of snow.
His assistant looked at it, "I don't know, Lord Wellington."
"Check it." Lord Wellington ordered.
Two soldiers walked toward the pile and checked it carefully, "A dead woman." They shouted.
"Why is there a dead body near his castle? I heard the bell from the Lord Bernard Arthur's castle. Darrel, did his wife give a birth to a son?" Lord Wellington asked.
"Yes, the King just has a daughter. So the Lord Bernard's son will be our king in the future." His assistant answered.
"Our King in the future?" Lord Wellington frown. He felt uncomfortable because he and Lord Bernard had been power rivals. "How about Beth?" He was worried about her because her health wasn't good.
"Actually I don't know." His assistant jumped out of the horseback, "Why does it take both of you too long to check a dead body?"
"It seems that she is still alive. I have known her before. She is one of the most famous midwifes." One of two soldiers politely replied.
"She was poisoned." The assistant smelled a strange scent from her mouth. "Take her to our region." He asked them. His intuition told him that there was a secret behind the killing of the midwife. The Lord's band continued their journey to the east with the unconscious midwife.
About 15 minutes later, a person covered in a dark winter coat went to the place where the soldiers discarded April's body.
Under light of the hurricane lamp, anybody could recognize that that person was Julia. What did she do there? She frowned, "Where did April go? Don't hate me. I tried my best to save you." She sighed and returned to the castle. She had many works to made her highness's dream become true: Taking care of and training the newborn, Vivian Arthur, to be a wonderful and brave prince and a great King. But the first step she had to do was finding an assistant for Vivian: A newborn girl who would also be disguised as a boy. "This girl should be an orphan." She talked to herself.