and for myself."
"What are you talking about..." Before I could turn my head, I felt a hand pressing a cloth tightly against my nose and mouth, a strange scent invading my nostrils. Suddenly, my body grew weak, and I collapsed, limp in the arms of the man who held me from behind.
He laid me down on the ground and began removing my clothes. I heard the sound of a prison guard''s boots entering the cell.
Instinctual resistance kept a glimmer of consciousness within me. I heard Raphael calmly and swiftly giving instructions to the man who had entered, and then that man lifted my upper body from under my armpits and hastily dragged me out of the prison cell.
Raphael didn''t follow out. I heard the rusty prison door being firmly shut between us. With the last ounce of my stubborn will, I attempted to struggle, but my head felt too heavy, and I had no control over my body.
I felt the fresh, cool air from outside filling my lungs, and then I was tossed onto a carriage. The patter of raindrops echoed against the carriage walls as I swayed along with the speeding voiture, finally succumbing to a complete state of unconsciousness.
----------------------
I had a lengthy dream.
In the dream, we finally built the republic of our ideals. No children begging for food, no women selling their bodies. The poor no longer suffered from hunger, and children were no longer subjected to beatings. The most humble became the greatest, honesty and humility were praised while hypocrisy and arrogance were suppressed.
I resigned from my position in the government, as promised, and moved with you to the countryside. How the beauty of nature highlighted the radiance of my Edith, with flowers adorning your hair as you joyfully ran through the fields lifting your red dress, always laughing with pure delight.
Our respected aunt sat in a lounger in the yard, basking in the sunlight, while Citizeness Margot knitted by her side. Citizeness Saint-Clemont had somehow returned to us, her legs fully healed. The children gathered around her, forming a circle by the hem of her skirt like little doves, eagerly vying for the bread she lovingly fed them.
I stood in the vast expanse of farmland, gazing upon this blissf