Instead, Lucas had been with Yvonne, using her fever as an excuse to avoid Celia and, in his mind, force her to let go of him.
The scene shifted.
In the reflection, Yvonne was shown answering one of Celia’s calls behind Lucas‘ back.
“Celia, is something wrong? Lucas is making oatmeal for me right now and doesn’t have time to answer your call,” she said, her
tone laced with cruel indifference.
Those words had snuffed out the last shred of Celia’s will to fight for her life. Alone and despairing, she took her final breath.
Her soul, filled with unresolved yearning and sorrow, had resisted the natural cycle of the afterlife, wandering the mortal world
until the King of the Underworld intervened.
The King concluded the reflection, turning back to Lucas with a grave expression.
1/3
Chapter 14
+15 Bonus
“She made a foolish deal, an unequal trade–her soul for seven days at your side. And yet, all you did was push her further away.”
Lucas stared at the fading mist in the mirror, his face ashen and hollow. The weight of his choices bore down on him, suffocating
in its enormity. He had squandered what little time she had left, too afraid of his own feelings to truly see her.
Lucas remembered it all, the moments replaying in his mind with brutal clarity.
Through the mirror, he witnessed Celia selling her parents‘ inheritance and the gifts he had given her. She deposited all the
money into the card for him. Then, while tidying up the study, she unexpectedly came across a thick stack of love letters.
He saw how, after being sent out of his study, she overheard him claim the letters were meant for Yvonne. Later, she hid under
her blanket, silently crying and scolding herself for being foolish enough to think they could have been written for her.
But the cruelest irony was that she hadn’t been wrong.
Those letters had been written for her.
How absurd it was. Lucas had been in love with Celia all along but never dared to admit it. He feared the judgment of others and
feared how the world’s scrutiny might harm her. So, instead of confessing, he pushed her away.
He even enlisted Yvonne to pretend to be his girlfriend, crafting an elaborate illusion of affection for someone else just to break
Celia’s heart.
Then there was Yvonne’s birthday party. She had been pushed into the pool by two reckless children, but she had turned around
and blamed Celia instead. It was Yvonne, after all, who had always spoken to Celia with cutting, cruel words.
Yet Lucas, blinded by his cowardice and Yvonne’s manipulation, had taken her side.
He had accused Celia of lying, pushing Yvonne, and avoiding responsibility. Even when he felt her skin cold as ice and couldn’t find her pulse, Yvonne’s casual dismissal–that Celia was “faking an illness“-was enough to blind him to the truth.
Even when she swallowed her pride, offered an apology, and shouldered the burden of his accusations, the hollow emptiness in
her eyes was undeniable. He had seen it but willfully turned a blind eye.
Then there was that final day. She had asked for just one meal together–a simple dinner. He had promised her, yet he stood her
up again, leaving her to wait alone.
Lucas believed that pushing her away would help her let go. He convinced himself that once she moved on, everything would be
fine.
But now, he saw the truth: he had been a fool.
He drove the one he loved to her death, and worse still, he left her to die alone and terrified, her cries for help unanswered.
She must have been in so much pain and so afraid.
And even after everything, she still gave up her soul, condemning herself to eternal nothingness, just to spend seven fleeting
days with him.
2/3
Chapter 14
+15 Bonus
Lucas clutched his chest as the weight of it all crushed him. The person he loved the most was gone, and he was the one to destroy
her.
Recharge Promo: 3500 Bonus Free
Comments
