After hearing everything, Helena stood frozen. Her wide, unfocused eyes stared at him—no anger, no immediate hatred—just disbelief.
Blank, cold, shocked... As if what she'd just heard wasn't reality at all, but some sick, cruel joke.
Like he'd just told her the sky was fake.
Drip...
A single tear escaped the corner of her eye, rolling slowly down her cheek. She didn't even flinch.
Aether's lips quivered. "I... I didn't mean to..." he whispered, his voice breaking, eyes filled with guilt, reaching toward her.
But before he could finish—
Helena turned and bolted.
She ran. Without a glance back, without a single word, without a scream.
She just ran.
Her body was trembling as tears finally flooded her face, splashing onto the ground behind her.
Her feet moved faster than her mind could follow.
Everything.
Everything Aether had said—the love, the tenderness, the fate—they were all lies?
He lied. All this time, she believed him.
Trusted him.
Loved him.
And now?
