By the time Vance reached Nocturne Tower, I was already sitting on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling over the side.
I tilted my head back to gaze at the stars scattered across the sky.
Mother once told me: when people die, they become stars in the heavens.
I wondered which one of them was her… and which one was my child.
When I die, will I be able to join them?
Vance’s eyes were bloodshot. He was burning with rage–yet beneath it, there was a fear he could no longer conceal.
“Selene, what a good trick,” he spat. “You’re using death to threaten me now?”
“If you don’t want to anger me, then get down here–now!”
My dull eyes slowly turned toward him.
“Vance.”
In the past five years, I had called his name with hatred, with pleading, but never before with such calm.
Perhaps, in the face of death, all the love and hate no longer mattered.
“I’m not trying to threaten you,” I said.
“I had thought it through. You and I… we were destined to be tragic lovers.”
“We only bring each other pain. You’re not happy. Neither am I. So why should we go on?”
Vance’s lips trembled. His hands were clenched tightly inside his sleeves.
“Whether you’re happy or not–that’s not up to you to decide!”
“You haven’t repaid your debts. What right do you have to die?”
I was taken aback. I turned my face and continued staring at the stars.
“I can’t repay them. I no longer expect your forgiveness.”
“Vance, for the sake of the ten years I’ve loved you… let me go.”
The wind carried my faint words into Vance’s ears, and his heart trembled.
When he saw the lifeless look in my eyes, he finally realized I wasn’t bluffing.
His voice shook even more, and he instinctively moved closer to me.
“Selene, you can’t die!”
“Don’t you want to know where our child is buried?”
Seeing me lean further out, he finally used the one word he thought could stop me.
“Child.”
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Sure enough, I paused and looked at him again.
I saw the nervous lines on his face and remembered how he had ordered firewood that day with such cruel resolve.
I gave him a bitter, broken smile.
“Vance, do you know…”
“There’s not a father in this world who would kill his own child with his own hands.”
“And none who would reduce their child’s remains to ashes.”
If our child was watching from heaven, I was certain he wouldn’t want a father like you.
Vance’s eyes were blood–red.
He no longer cared about pride or appearances.
He looked at me, begging, “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have taken my hatred out on the baby.”
“Selene, please… don’t jump. Don’t jump, I beg you-”
I shook my head and leaned forward to peer down below.
“Vance, I’m exhausted.”
“Let’s end things here.”
Without hesitation, I leaped from Nocturne Tower.
Vance and I first met in the thirty–sixth year of the new king’s reign.
That year, I had just come of age, and my mother personally escorted me to the Holy Well on the outskirts of Asteria for
blessings.
In the solemn ceremony, I handed the tea leaves in my cup to the diviner.
She accepted them but only sighed deeply.
My mother grew anxious and pressed her for an explanation.
The diviner, her aged eyes fixed on me, spoke in cryptic words.
Bored by the vague prophecies, I slipped away unnoticed and wandered to the hills behind the sanctuary.
The hills of the Holy Well were famed as the “Sea of Roses.”
In early spring, the roses bloomed in abundance, and I frolicked joyfully through the blossoms–until I accidentally collided with Vance, who had been meditating there.
Clad in white, he sat perched on a tree branch.
With one slender hand, he lifted a rose–laden bough, revealing a face so striking behind the petals that it stole my breath.
A gust of wind swept through, scattering rose petals like a crimson storm.
I stood frozen, staring up at Vance, unsure whether the roses had dazzled my sight–or if he had already claimed my heart.
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Regardless, I fell helplessly in love with him.
On the journey home, I clung to my mother’s arm in the carriage, giddy as any maiden with her first crush. I confessed that
I had met someone who delighted me.
I didn’t say “love“-only “delight.”
But surely, someone who sparked such joy at first glance must be worth loving.
My mother’s face darkened. She gripped my hand and said, “Impossible.”
Yet what were parental warnings against a young girl’s resolve?,
Whenever my parents‘ attention lapsed, I stole away to the Holy Well’s hills to seek Vance.
I watched him read. Listened to him play the lute.
Every gesture of his seemed perfection itself.
By the thirty–ninth year of the king’s reign, Vance had become a trusted confidant of the crown.
In the throne room, he knelt and secured a royal decree for our marriage.
Overjoyed, I believed my dream of wedding him would finally come true.
But that night, my mother wept until no tears remained.
Knowing she couldn’t undo the king’s edict, she labored by candlelight to sew my wedding gown.
On the day of the ceremony, Vance arrived astride a noble steed to escort me.
Peering through the carriage window at him, I felt a fulfillment deeper than any I’d known in my eighteen years.
For two years after, we lived as any devoted couple might.
He painted. I played melodies.
Chapter 4
