Chapter 111: Fear
Chapter 111: Fear
—DAMIEN—
The meeting should have required my complete attention.
Three directors sat across from me discussing acquisition proposals, financial forecasts, and a merger that would likely determine the company’s direction for the next decade. The projector continued displaying charts and figures while voices exchanged opinions with confidence, waiting for the final decision only I could make.
I heard every word.
Yet not a single one remained in my mind.
Something... was wrong.
The sensation appeared so suddenly that I almost believed it to be fatigue. It wasn’t painful, nor was it anything physical.
Instead, an unfamiliar emptiness quietly settled inside my chest, as though something precious had been taken from me without my noticing. It wasn’t loud enough to demand immediate attention, yet neither was it something I could simply ignore. The longer I remained seated, the heavier it became.
"...Excuse me."
The room immediately fell silent.
Every executive turned toward me, surprised by the interruption.
"I beg your pardon," I said, composing myself despite the growing discomfort. "Would you permit me a brief recess? We shall continue once I return."
"Of course, sir."
I offered them a grateful nod before leaving the conference room.
The hallway outside was considerably quieter. The constant discussions disappeared the moment the door closed behind me, leaving only the distant hum of office workers beyond the glass corridors. I loosened my tie slightly and finally allowed myself a proper breath.
"...What is this?"
It wasn’t illness.
Nor exhaustion.
If anything...
It resembled longing.
A longing so sudden and so profound that it almost frightened me.
Almost instinctively, I reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone. Before I had consciously decided what I intended to do, my thumb had already stopped over a familiar name.
Celia.
I stared at it longer than I intended.
When had I last seen her?
A week ago?
No...
Nearly two.
The realization made my chest tighten.
One business trip had become another. Overseas investors arrived almost every other day, board meetings continued to pile upon one another, and every postponed appointment was replaced by two more. Somewhere amidst all that chaos, I had convinced myself there would always be another tomorrow to visit her.
She never complained.
Whenever I apologized, she always answered the same way.
"It’s alright."
"Don’t worry about me."
"I’m happy you’re doing well."
A bitter smile found its way onto my lips.
That was simply who Celia was.
She always made everyone else’s burdens seem lighter while quietly carrying her own.
"...I’ve neglected her."
The words escaped before I realized I had spoken them aloud.
Everything I had done since arriving in this world had been for our future. I wanted to build something stable. Something worthy of the life we had sacrificed everything to obtain. I wished to stand before her not as a prince stripped of his kingdom, but as a man capable of giving her the peaceful life she deserved.
Yet somewhere along the way...
I had become too occupied building that future to remain present beside the person I was building it for.
The hollow feeling inside me only deepened.
Without another thought, I called Sebastian.
The line connected after the second ring.
"Damien."
"Forgive the interruption."
He immediately noticed something unusual in my voice.
"Has something happened?"
I remained silent for several moments before quietly replying,
"I require your honesty."
"...Very well."
"Have you experienced anything... peculiar today?"
A pause followed.
"...Explain."
I turned toward the enormous windows overlooking the city. Countless buildings stretched toward the horizon, yet none of them managed to distract me from the strange unease pressing against my heart.
"I find myself incapable of concentrating. My thoughts refuse to remain where they ought."
Even saying the words sounded irrational.
"It feels..." I hesitated. "...as though I had just lost a part of me."
Silence answered me.
Long enough that I wondered whether the call had disconnected.
Then Sebastian spoke.
"...I believed I was the only one."
I closed my eyes.
"So you feel it as well."
"Since this morning."
His voice carried an unfamiliar weight.
"I’ve reviewed the same contract four times."
"And?"
"I cannot recall a single sentence."
Neither of us spoke.
Both of us already understood what the other was thinking.
"This cannot be coincidence," I finally murmured.
"No."
"It cannot."
Several quiet seconds passed before Sebastian unexpectedly asked,
"...Have you seen Celia recently?"
The question struck me harder than I cared to admit.
"...No."
"I intended to visit after returning from travel."
My grip tightened around the phone.
"I never did."
Another silence settled between us.
"...Neither have I," Sebastian admitted.
I immediately ended the call and dialed Matthias.
He answered almost instantly.
"Your Highness."
"You may abandon that title."
"I know."
A faint sigh escaped him.
"...Old habits."
Ordinarily, one of us would have smiled.
Today...
Neither of us did.
"Matthias."
"Yes."
"Tell me truthfully."
"...Of course."
"Do you feel it?"
He didn’t ask what I meant.
"...I do."
His answer came without hesitation.
"I was inspecting one of our security facilities when I suddenly found myself wondering whether Lady Celia had eaten lunch."
He paused.
"...I’ve been unable to think of anything else since."
My concern deepened.
The next call went to Ezekiel.
"I was about to contact you," he said before I could even speak.
"You feel it."
"Yes."
His usually calm voice sounded unusually strained.
"I’ve ruined three experiments today."
"You?"
"I forgot calculations I’ve memorized for years."
He let out a slow breath.
"My thoughts continue returning to one person."
"Celia."
"...Yes."
Finally...
I contacted Aelith.
His warm voice greeted me as always.
"Good afternoon."
"Aelith."
He became quiet almost immediately.
"...You feel it too."
It wasn’t a question.
"No."
He sighed softly.
"I initially believed I had become ill."
"I examined myself twice."
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
"And your diagnosis?"
"...I miss her."
Silence followed.
Five men.
Five separate lives.
Five different places.
Yet every one of us carried the very same emptiness.
I slowly lowered the phone and leaned against the glass wall behind me.
Memories surfaced one after another without invitation.
Her laughter.
Her stubbornness.
The way she pretended everything was fine simply to avoid burdening anyone else.
When had I last looked into her eyes instead of another financial report?
When had I last walked beside her without checking my watch?
When had I last simply... been with her?
"...We’ve become busy."
Once, I believed success in this world would allow us to remain peacefully beside her.
Instead...
We had begun living exactly like everyone else.
Working.
Postponing.
Promising ourselves there would always be another opportunity.
Another dinner.
Another weekend.
Another tomorrow.
How dangerous that assumption truly was.
Because tomorrow...
Was a privilege, not a promise.
I reopened the conference call.
"Gentlemen."
One by one, they answered.
"I find it difficult to dismiss this as mere sentiment."
"So do I," Sebastian replied.
"What do you propose?" Matthias asked.
I looked once more toward the gray sky stretching above the city.
"I propose we cease ignoring what every instinct within us is attempting to say."
No one objected.
"Celia has waited for us more times than I care to remember."
I closed my eyes briefly.
"...Perhaps she has already waited longer than she should have."
The silence that followed carried more guilt than words ever could.
Then Aelith quietly spoke.
"...I’ll leave immediately."
"So shall I," Ezekiel added.
"I can postpone everything else," Matthias said firmly.
Sebastian was the last to respond.
"I’ve already instructed my secretary to clear tomorrow’s schedule."
I nodded to myself.
"So be it."
The call ended.
Yet the emptiness remained.
No...
It had grown even stronger.
As though somewhere far beyond my reach...
Someone I cherished had just slipped farther away.
An uneasiness I could no longer suppress settled heavily within me.
Without another thought, I unlocked my phone once more and pressed Celia’s name.
The call immediately began connecting.
Or rather...
It should have.
Instead of the familiar ringing tone, complete silence greeted me.
I frowned and lowered the phone slightly, checking the screen.
The call remained active.
No ringtone.
No connection message.
Nothing.
"...That’s strange."
I ended the call and dialed again.
Once more...
Silence.
Not even a single ring.
The screen simply displayed Calling... before remaining frozen.
A cold sensation crept slowly up my spine.
"...No..."
Celia always answered.
Even when she couldn’t speak immediately, the phone would ring.
She would later send a message apologizing for missing the call.
But this...
This felt different.
I tried a third time.
Nothing.
A fourth.
Still nothing.
It was as though the call itself had nowhere to go.
The emptiness inside my chest suddenly twisted into something far more terrifying.
My heartbeat lurched violently against my ribs.
"...Celia."
For the first time since arriving in this world...
Fear overtook reason.
Not the fear of failure or the fear of losing everything I had built.
No...
It was the same fear I had known the day she disappeared from our world.
The dreadful certainty that somewhere beyond my reach...
Something had happened to her.
I no longer cared about meetings.
Nor contracts.
Nor the company waiting for my decision.
There was only one thought left in my mind.
Find her.
Immediately.