Chapter 2
When Lena woke up, her temple was still throbbing faintly.
“Who brought me back?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
The maid Alice was just coming in with a tray of medicine. At the question, she smiled with her lips pressed together. “It was the Earl Gale . He carried you all the way back from the Royal Garden. The physicians were so alarmed, they thought something terrible had happened.”
Lena froze. “Linden?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Alice nodded.
Lena recalled that fleeting moment before she lost consciousness. Her heart stirred slightly. “Did he… say anything? Did he seem worried?”
Alice tilted her head thoughtfully. “The Earl Gale looked as nonchalant as ever. He laid you on the bed and said he was going out for a bit of fun. He also said something like—”
She imitated Linden’s lazy, drawling tone, “Since I’m not in the running for fiancé, I might as well enjoy some wine at Slivershade. But rest assured, I’ll be back for the princess’s grand wedding—with quite the gift.”
The cloud over Lena’s heart suddenly lifted, and she nearly laughed out loud.
He was her future husband. What kind of wedding gift was he planning to give?
In the days that followed, all of Asteria buzzed with tales of Ethan and Flora’s blooming romance—
“The Earl Sterling visited Chancellor Castle again this morning. I heard he personally stewed cream of mushroom soup for Miss Vivian!”
“That’s not all. At yesterday’s auction, the Earl spent a fortune on jewelry—he bought out the entire gallery for her!”
“Someone even saw him carrying Miss Vivian, since she twisted her ankle, all the way down Central Avenue this morning!”
Alice stamped her foot in frustration. “Your Highness, do you hear this? No matter how noble and upright the Earl Sterling may seem, he was chosen by the King to be your future husband! He belongs to you! Flaunting his affections for another woman so openly—isn’t that a slap in your face?”
Lena looked out the window, watching the apple blossoms drift down in the breeze, and suddenly smiled.
Yes, it was a slap in the face.
“Bring me the gold-trimmed wooden chest from the storage room.”
When Alice brought it over, Lena casually flipped through it. Everything inside was something she had collected about Ethan.
A poem he had written offhand, a pendant he had discarded, even an old quill he no longer used…
The chest was filled to the brim with her humble affection.
“Prepare the carriage. We’re going to Sterling Castle.”
When they arrived, Ethan was not there.
The butler informed them he had gone to the outskirts to admire the spring blossoms—with Miss Vivian.
Lena ordered told them to carry the chest into his study and was just about to leave when she heard footsteps outside the door—
“Ethan, you’ve been so nice to me lately. If the princess finds out, won’t she be terribly upset?”
It was Flora’s voice.
Soon after, Ethan’s warm and gentle voice followed. “I’ve been deliberately letting people spread word of my affection for you, hoping the princess will give up.”
“But she’s so fond of you. How could she?”
“Even if she chooses me, I’ll find a way to break it off. Flora, ever since I saw you dance the Flamenco at the banquet, I’ve been captivated. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you.”
Lena felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
Flamenco?
Wasn’t she the one who had danced it?
That night, wearing a crimson gown and a veil, she had danced to celebrate her father’s birthday—clapping the castanets in rhythm with the guitar, twirling gracefully under the lanterns. Ethan had arrived late and never saw the face behind the veil.
Could it be… he had mistaken Flora for her?
Lena stumbled backward and accidentally knocked over a vase on the table.
“Who’s there?” Ethan pushed the door open. When he saw her, his brows furrowed. “Princess Lena, what are you doing here?”
Lena looked at his cool, moonlit face and suddenly found it all laughable.
In her past life, he had given up everything to love Flora. And yet, in the end, he hadn’t even recognized the person who had truly moved his heart.
She nearly blurted out the truth, but after a moment, she suppressed the surge in her chest.
Perhaps they truly weren’t meant to be. After what he’d done—faking his death—there could be no future for them.
“I came to return something,” she said, stepping aside to reveal the chest.
Ethan’s face instantly darkened. “The wedding isn’t for some time. Are you really so eager to deliver your dowry already?”
“I’m not—”
“I urge you to reconsider the chose of fiancé,” he interrupted coldly, his tone like frost. “My heart belongs to Flora. A forced union will never be sweet.”
Lena’s fingertips trembled with anger.
In all of Asteria, how many noble sons longed to marry her? And yet to him, she was something to be avoided at all costs!
She almost shouted, “I didn’t choose you,” but just then, Flora let out a dainty cry and collapsed to the floor.
“Oh, Ethan, I twisted my ankle…”
Ethan immediately bent down to pick her up and carried her into the inner chamber without so much as a glance at Lena.
Lena stood outside the doorway, watching him carefully apply ointment to Flora’s foot and whisper gently, “Does it hurt?”
That tenderness—was what she had yearned for in her past life, but never received.
Ethan, you’re blind—
You can’t even recognize the person who truly stirred your heart.
In that case, you deserve to live the rest of your life in regret.
Lena slowly closed her eyes, then turned and walked away.
