Chapter 11
Time passed little by little, and before anyone realized it, two years had gone by.
Sebastian sat in a daze inside Eleonora’s room at the estate. On the small table beside him, her unfinished embroidered
handkerchief still lay where she had left it.
The room had remained exactly as it had been when Eleonora was alive. Sebastian had preserved everything for the past.
two years.
He sat quietly, his eyes taking in every detail of the space.
It felt as though Eleonora had only belonged to him in a past life. In this one, he had never truly earned her love.
Or perhaps he had received it, but he had taken it for granted and failed to cherish it.
Sebastian closed his eyes. At first, the pain of losing Eleonora hadn’t hit him. But as time went on, the grief began to settle
on him like snow, flake by flake-And eventually, it hardened into unbearable ice.
By the time he realized it, he was already suffocating, gasping for air with no way to escape.
He heard movement outside the room. When he opened the door, he saw Alexa returning.
The girl had grown. She was no longer childish, and the trace of immaturity in her features was fading.
After glancing briefly at Sebastian, Alexa headed straight for her room.
“Wait,” Sebastian called after her.
“I heard from your teacher that you’ve been slipping in your studies. What’s going on?”
“Alexa, living so passively-do you think this is what your mother would have wanted?”
Alexa shot him a disinterested look. “Then let me ask you-were your actions in the past worthy of Mother?”
“If you want me to be better, fine. Bring her back, and I will be better.”
“You-” Sebastian started to yell, but before he could finish, Alexa slammed the study door shut behind her.
Sebastian clutched his head in anguish.
Eleonora, can you tell me-how did you raise Alexa?
Can you come back?
Without you, life is unbearable.
In the past two years, Eleonora’s parents had also been haunted by nightmares.
Her mother had once gone to Princess Emily and asked to bring Eleonora’s coffin back home, but was told that Eleonora had explicitly stated during her lifetime-
That she never wanted to see anyone from the Nocturne family ever again.
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Not in life, not even in death.
She didn’t want her body returned to them.
Princess Emily had honored Eleonora’s final words and buried her in the mountains of Vermilion Ridge.
ཆ
After that, Mother’s mental state took a drastic turn. She began to show signs of delusion-sometimes even believing that Eleonora was still a child, Just out playing and expected to return any moment.
And Father?
All he did every day was sit in Eleonora’s room, staring at her belongings.
Nothing more.
Two more years passed. Alexa came of age.
On the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, the royal palace was bustling with guests.
All the other young men were accompanied by their mothers or parents.
Only she stood alone. Sebastian was the only one who came with him.
Alexa lowered her head.
If her mother had still been alive, would she have been there too.
Helping straighten her clothes, gently reminding her of the rituals and traditions?
That’s the kind of mother she had been.
But now, where could he find a mother?
Alexa turned away, holding back tears.
So this… this was what it meant when people said losing a loved one is a sorrow that never truly dries.
After the ceremony, Sebastian went to a tavern to gather intelligence on the kingdom.
Since losing Eleonora, the only way he could dull his pain was to throw himself into work and keep busy.
He couldn’t think of any other way to survive it.
After finishing his meeting, he stepped out of the private room, and saw Ophelia.
She was being scolded by a woman who looked like a procuress.
Ophelia kept her head down submissively, her cheek still red with a fresh slap mark.
Sebastian walked past her without looking back.
After the Nocturne family had cast her out, her biological father had taken her in.
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He hadn’t expected to run into her here..
But he had no intention of helping.
This was the retribution Ophelia deserved for taking everything from Eleonora.
She had to suffer this alone.
And as for the pain of losing Eleonora-He and the Nocturne couple would have to bear that together.
Sebastian let out a bitter laugh and walked away from the tavern.
