Yesterday, she had been on the verge of death, tears blurring her eyes as she spoke to him.
“My lord, I remember everything you’ve done for me. But the more you’re kind to me, the more Lady Seraphina will torment me. When you didn’t accompany her back to the manor, Lord Valois and Lady Valois came to trouble me. I’ve taken the Black Mandrake… unworthy as I am…”
Sadly, he had believed Guinevere’s words.
Vince, who was usually composed and rarely angered, now turned his face cold, his eyes like frozen ice.
“I should never have trusted you. Sera’s heart’s blood should never have saved your wretched life! Guards, take this woman away and lock her up in the dungeon!”
Within moments, a group of guards surrounded Guinevere, holding her firmly.
She struggled, crying, but soon realized there was no hope of
Pe. She sneered.
lies! You doubted your own heart’s voice! How pathetic!”
“You were so eager to rebel against your house’s chains… you clung
Guinevere was dragged away, her laughter like a knife that pierced Vince’s heart, making it hard for him to breathe.
The cruel words that had hurt Seraphina had come from him. It was he who had nearly taken her heart’s blood.
An overwhelming grief surged over him, and he nearly collapsed.
After leaving home, I didn’t head south.
www
I wanted to visit the land where my parents had fought their entire lives. After much travel, I arrived in the southern region.
This place was not as rich as the capital, but the people were simple and kind.
The ferryman eyed my fine woolen cloak curiously.
“Milady, these borderlands face constant raids. Why come here?”
I didn’t answer,
My parents had protected this land their whole lives, and I wanted to make their homeland better.
Here, I established a school. An orphanage. So no child would know the loneliness I’d endured.
Time passed quickly. As I stepped from the schoolhouse, rain ceased pelting my face.
But suddenly I felt the shelter of an oil–paper umbrella above my head.
That familiar fragrance, one I hadn’t smelled in a long time, filled the air, as if an entire lifetime had passed.
“You’re still the same as before,” he said. “On rainy days, you’d forget your umbrella, always waiting for me to come pick you up. Can you take better care of yourself?” I looked up, and it was Vince.
For a moment, I thought I was dreaming
Vince looked different now, his eyes were no longer bright, and he had lost much weight.
His voice was hoarse, almost inaudible
“Seraphina, I finally… finally found you.”
I thought I would never see Vince again in this lifetime
“You came to find me… because Lord Father and Lady Mother missed me?” I clenched my fists tightly, trying to suppress the emotions surging in my
chest
How could Vince have come here just to find me?
Vince gazed into my eyes as if afraid I would disappear, his gaze bloodshot
He reached out and touched my head, just like when we were children
“It’s me. I wanted to see you.”
I stared at him, my mind blank. Clare
felt
“You
Vince
He had
never let
came to find
me…
what about Guinevere?”
a sharp pain
in his heart, a
wave of
the
woman he
deep sorrow washing over him.
loved know his true feelings.
