Sorry 32

 Chapter 32

    ***

    "Open it."

    She did as she was told, and opened the box to reveal a necklace, the center of which was a green gemstone that looked exactly like Euris' eyes. It was a beautiful necklace.

    A peaceful last night in a resort town, and a husband who gave her an expensive necklace. The world went dark, and it felt like they were the only two people in the world. It was a romantic and loving situation.

    But Euris felt uneasy about the whole situation.

    "Chaint."

    "Yes, honey."

    "Are you going to tell me now?"

    "..."

    He felt her voice tremble slightly. He stopped reaching for the necklace, a small breath escaping his lips.

    "Euris....... we must stop the war, right?"

    As he said this, he stared at her with shadowed eyes. Euris recognized the oddness in the tone of the question, the weight of the answer that must follow. She bit the flesh on the inside of her lips for a moment, then released it, and finally nodded.

    Then she stared off into space for a moment, her expression blank, and her heart began to pound with anxiety as she couldn't quite fathom where that focus was going.

    Her husband always had a soft expression in her presence, and to see it so dark was all the more worrisome.

    Then his lips parted.

    "In my last life, during the war, I ran into Kylan once, at a third country outpost where we were negotiating."

    Euris blinked in surprise at his words. She had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth, so she waited for his next words.

    "He said the war was caused by him."

    Chaint's voice was low. Euris still didn't quite understand what that sentence meant.

    "The war was caused by him?"

    "Kylan said the war happened because he came to Lepallon, and he regretted that choice."

    Euris sucked in a breath at the more specific answer. The lights on the terrace flickered in the darkness of the night.

    Chaint watched it for a moment, then carefully began to recount the story Kylan had told him in his past life.

    Kylan had told him that he was the last remaining royalty of the Lepallon Empire, and that there were certain things that only direct royalty could do.

    What the hell that had to do with the Alton Empire invading a small country was beyond him, but in any case, Chaint said that Kylan reiterated that the war was caused by him.

    'Kylan's mother is the last empress, and Kylan is the last imperial blood.'

    What the hell did she know about Kylan in her last life?

    "Then......."

    Euris dragged on, unable to finish her sentence. Chaint waited for his wife's next words with a miserable expression.

    "We must keep him from going to Lepallon."

    Euris muttered to herself.

    The only remaining direct imperial bloodline would be important enough for the Empire to use any means necessary.

    Euris knew that. Kylan Hebron was a man who got along with everyone, but kept his distance from everyone. Even his own family was no exception: his stepmother and half-brother found him difficult, as did his father, the Earl of Hebron.

    Ever since childhood, Euris had felt it in the back of her mind. The only person he ever really liked was........

    'It was just me.’

    Only she would be able to stop him from going to Lepallon.

    Euris thought she could understand why her husband was so distressed. And she understood why he was reluctant to bring it up. She, too, was aware of the whole situation.

    Chaint looked at his wife's confused face for a moment, then lifted the necklace from the box.

    The green gem glowed slightly in the dim light. He picked it up and stood up, moving to stand behind Euris's chair.

    Then he gently lifted her hair and slipped the necklace on. The coolness of the metal against the nape of her neck made her shiver slightly.

    "It looks good on you. It's a piece of jewelry I've always wanted to get you, though you look beautiful in anything."

    At his words, Euris glanced down at the necklace around her neck. She'd thought it was an emerald, but now that she looked at it again, it was more of a desaturated chartreuse color than the blue that was typical of the gem.

    "It's the same color as your eyes, so I wanted to give it to you."

    She shook her head. The gift wasn't the important thing right now; her head was spinning with all the stories that were pouring out of his mouth. But he didn't seem to mind.

    "Do you know where this jewelry came from?"

    "..."

    "Belontia."

    Chaint added tersely, walking slowly back to sit across from her. The yellow light mixed with the faint moonlight, making his elegant nose look deep.

    Euris watched his every move with a puzzled expression.

    "Let's run away," he said, "to the Empire of Belontia, which is close to here. The sea there is more beautiful than here, and the people are warmer. Let's live in a peaceful sea city like this one and think of nothing, and be happy."

    He said calmly, as if it were a routine plan.

    Belontia, an island nation just a short boat ride south of Alton.

     "In fact, we could build a mansion in Belontia, I have land there."

    Euris stared at him with blank eyes.

    "We could live happily ever after there."

    Live happily ever after.

    The woman mulled over the sentence.

    What did happiness mean to her?

    The answer was not difficult.

    To stop the war. And to be with Chaint.

    In that sentence, she hadn't envisioned those two things going in opposite directions. He knew that, and that's why he wanted to leave for Belontia.

    'You're asking me to leave for Belontia even though you know there will be war.’

    In other words, to run away. Euris closed her eyes tightly.

    If everything Chaint said was true, the first thing she could do was go to Kylan and ask him not to leave for Lepallon.

    But.

    She paused, thinking back to her last conversation with Kylan. She remembered his haggard face at the funeral. The face that had given up on everything, the face that stood determined to turn its    back on the world.

    Kylan had said he wanted to organize himself. He said he didn't want to falter.

    ‘And he said he liked me.’

    She felt devastated.

    If she could convince him to stay and keep him from going to Lepallon, what then? Would he sit idly by and watch her return to Chaint?

    That would be unkind to everyone.

    ‘I don't know what Kylan will want from me, or if he'll want anything at all, or if he'll even see me.’

    Convincing Kylan would be harder than she thought, and the choice could mean she and Chaint would never have the same life again.

    Euris glanced back at her husband, who was still watching her silently, and she could feel her heart drying up beneath that expression.

    She couldn't imagine what he must have been feeling, before he'd told her all this incredible story.

    Euris felt it again. Chaint had a choice. Keep this whole story a secret and send Kylan to Lepallon, because that was the only way he would not lose her.

    But he wanted to keep his word. He wanted no lies in their relationship.

    She felt it, and her heart sank.

    ‘What choice do I have?’

    The land of Belontia had never belonged to Eridov; she’d found the papers in his office a few days ago.

    At the time, she thought it was just a business deal for the Marquis of Eridov.

    'You want me to flee to Belontia with you, because that's how we can avoid being separated.......'

    Of course she wanted to run away with him, but how could she make an easy choice between her love for him and the war that was going to take countless innocent lives?

    ****

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