Chapter 98: Strength
I walk through the royal garden, trying to calm down. Ever since being with Noelle, I’ve found that plants have a way of easing my mind. The peaceful sway of leaves in the breeze and the scent of flowers help drown out the chaos in my thoughts. I settle on a nearby bench, closing my eyes, hoping to steal a moment of quiet.
Lately, I’ve been entertaining the idea of running away with Noelle. Those memories of us on the hill, just the two of us, feel like an oasis in the middle of this storm. No politics, no power struggles—just peace. We were happiest there. I imagine expanding our little house, making it truly ours. The thought fills me with a bittersweet longing.
I never desired power for its own sake. It was always a means to an end—to ensure no one could ever step on me again. I wonder, though, what if I were just a normal man? Would things be simpler? Probably not. My beloved star, Noelle, is so breathtakingly beautiful that, if he had been a commoner, I would have likely ended up in jail for killing some noble who tried to lay a hand on him. Then we’d be fugitives, forever on the run. I can’t put him through that life.
Maybe we could flee to a foreign country, find a small, isolated town far from all this madness. A place where we could finally be free, where I could hold Noelle close without any worries-
"This is where you were," a familiar voice pulls me from my thoughts. I glance up to find Count Raymond standing there.
I sigh, my patience thin.
"It might not have been obvious, but I really need some time to myself," I say, trying to keep my voice steady.
He chuckles as if my words were some old inside joke. Without asking, he sits on the bench next to me.
"That tone of yours," he says, amusement coloring his voice, "it takes me right back to that scrawny little kid I knew all those years ago."