Chapter 125
When she turned her head toward the voice she’d wanted to hear so badly, she saw Euphen.
She hadn’t been able to see him properly for days, so the fact that he had come to her now felt almost unreal.
Lynette slowly rose to her feet.
What should she say?
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, yet none of them could properly convey what she felt or thought.
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
The man did not come any closer. He simply stood where he was, quietly looking at her.
Was he feeling the same way? Was that why he couldn’t speak either?
Their gazes met.
What she wanted the most was to wrap her arms around him. That single act could convey more than a thousand words.
But she couldn’t. Euphen clearly wouldn’t want that. No, perhaps even if he did, neither of them could bring themselves to act on it.
She didn’t know how long they stood there, only staring at each other, before the man finally spoke.
“You must be planning to leave soon.”
“I’ll be going tomorrow.”
Lynette answered calmly. She had thought that seeing him again would make her want to cry, yet unexpectedly, no tears came.
Was it because she knew this was for the best? Or maybe she really had managed to settle her heart. Her mind was still in chaos, but she had imagined this moment so many times before.
It no longer felt unreal.
“Tomorrow…”
Euphen murmured softly, lowering his gaze.
It seemed Eshar hadn’t told him anything after all. Lynette had already mentioned to her that she would be leaving tomorrow.
She gave a faint, small smile.
“Do you really not need anything?”
She almost said yes out of habit, but bit her lip instead. She didn’t plan to take anything for her departure, but she did want something of his. Something she could cherish for the rest of her life.
“Anything is fine. I just… want something of Your Highness’s.”
At her words, his eyes widened slightly, and then a faint, bitter smile crossed his face.
“If you take something like that, it’ll only make you remember me.”
That was exactly why she wanted it, but she understood what he meant.
They were parting with no intention of meeting again. What good would a keepsake do?
It would only make her heart ache.
Unable to ask again, she lowered her head slightly. She could feel his gaze lingering on her.
“…Haah…”
Euphen let out a long sigh and ran his hand over his face. Then, a dry laugh slipped from his lips.
“And yet, it’s strange… how I still want to give you something.”
“Please do.”
Lynette lifted her head and met his blue eyes directly.
“I wish you would forget me, Lynette.”
“You know better than anyone, Your Highness, that such a thing is impossible.”
“How pathetic of me… to be glad you said that.”
His deep voice was laced with tangled emotions.
He stepped forward. Then, reaching into his b****t pocket, he took something out.
When she held out her hands, he dropped it gently into them.
A necklace, still warm with the heat from his body.
Lynette immediately recognized it.
Euphen had always carried it with him, even in the past.
“This is…”
She started to speak but stopped herself.
“Keep it with you, Lynette.”
She stared blankly at the small pendant in her palm.
Was he not going to explain it at all? When she lifted her gaze to him, Euphen smiled faintly.
“I’d like to put it on you myself… but I can’t.”
“…Are you truly sure it’s all right to give this to me?”
“It’s precious to me. That’s exactly why I want you to have it.”
Lynette’s lips trembled.
She knew very well just how precious it was. So much so that she hesitated to accept it.
‘It’s your mother’s keepsake.’
She’d heard that the late Empress hadn’t left many belongings behind. When she had first entered the palace as the second Empress, her relationship with the Emperor had been fairly good. But later on, it had turned terrible.
So terrible, in fact, that when she died of illness, rumors spread that the Emperor had a hand in it. And as if to prove those gossips were true, he had hurriedly remarried soon after.
While his father, the Emperor, so easily discarded the traces of his second wife, the young Euphen had almost nothing he could protect. The only thing he managed to keep was this necklace. The one his mother had personally placed around his neck.
Lynette clenched the pendant tightly in her hand, still warm from his touch.
She had never coveted it before, but she knew well that whenever Euphen looked at it, he would wear a bitter expression. It was the only thing left that could remind him of the mother he barely remembered.
“Your Highness, this…”
She couldn’t bring herself to reveal how much she knew, so her voice trailed off.
“Please, give me something else instead.”
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s something deeply precious to you, Your Highness.”
“That’s exactly why I want you to have it.”
“Then please… give me a handkerchief, or something like that instead.”
This pendant even had a spell cast on it.
‘It can be used once in a moment of danger.’
Items imbued with magic were rare enough, but one that could save a life was beyond priceless. The late Empress had placed it around her son’s neck, wishing that he would never face danger.
Lynette remembered. There had been a time in the past when Euphen’s life had been saved thanks to this very pendant.
‘But things are far more dangerous now than they were then.’
Back then, he had laughed it off, calling it an ‘accident.’ But now, there were people actively aiming for his life. Having several more such ‘accidents’ would hardly be surprising.
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