She lowered her head, clenched her hands tightly, her lips pressed firmly together...
Silence.
A long silence.
"I'm sorry..."
A moment later, Theresa repeated in a low voice.
"Child, it's okay, you have no need to apologize."
The old woman shook her head.
Theresa bit her lip and also shook her head:
"No... I must apologize..."
As she spoke, she raised her head and looked at the old woman, apprehension gradually turning into determination:
"I am Theresa, Theresa von Trass..."
"I was once the Empress Theresa II of the empire..."
After finishing this sentence, the girl seemed to have used up all her strength, and as if finally revealing the secret she had kept buried in her heart, her whole body relaxed instantly.
What followed, however, was tension, infinite tension, as she lowered her head, curling up again, ready to face the wrath of the old woman.
But the imagined anger did not come.
Instead, there was an old, rough, but very warm hand.
