Not a promise. Not a refusal. Just a postponent.
Valerie let out a long breath. A faint smile appeared on her lips not the smile of happiness, but of soone who was tired of hoping for too much. She closed her eyes and allowed her body to sink into the pillow. The night felt endless, even as ti continued to move forward.
Demian remained seated at the edge of the bed for a while, watching Valerie as she slowly drifted to sleep. Her face was peaceful, yet it carried too many unspoken things. Without wanting to admit it, Demian realized that his silence all this ti might have wounded her more deeply than an outright rejection ever could.
Still, he said nothing.
Morning arrived with pale light slipping through the narrow gap in the curtains. The air in the room felt lighter, yet the tension from the previous night lingered thin and suspended, like mist that had not fully lifted.
Valerie was already ready. The dress she wore was simple and comfortable, her hair neatly arranged without excessive adornnt. She looked like soone preparing to leave not as a duke’s woman, but simply as herself.
Demian entered the room and paused when he saw her.
"You’re going out?" he asked.
Valerie turned toward him. "Yes." She tightened the ribbon around her wrist. "May I go out today? I want to et a friend."
Demian frowned slightly. He did not need to ask which friend, or where she intended to go. There was one place that always ca to mind whenever Valerie spoke of wanting to breathe more freely.
"You’re going back to that place with the pink door again?" he asked, his tone flat, though clearly not neutral.
Valerie looked at him briefly, then shrugged lightly. "Maybe."
The honesty of her answer was precisely what made Demian want to forbid it. He opened his mouth, ready to say no but the word never ca.
He rembered Valerie’s face from the night before. Her question. Her quiet resignation. And the bitter realization that forbidding her would only make the distance between them more real.
Demian nodded. "Go."
Valerie fell silent for a mont, as if making sure she had heard correctly. "You... allow to?"
"Yes," Demian replied shortly.
No conditions. No extra guards. No hidden prohibitions.
Valerie looked at him for a long mont, then gave a small nod. "Thank you."
She walked toward the door. Just before leaving, she paused briefly as if she wanted to say sothing but in the end, she chose silence and continued on her way.
The door closed softly.
Demian stood alone in the room, staring at the now-silent doorway. An unfamiliar feeling crept into his chest a mixture of relief and loss. He realized sothing he had never considered before Allowing Valerie to leave was far more difficult than keeping her close.
And for the first ti, he asked himself how much longer he could keep saying we’ll see without truly losing everything.
Demian thought he knew where Valerie was going.
The place with the pink door the place Valerie always returned to whenever she wanted to feel safe without having to be anyone other than herself. The thought lingered in his mind longer than he cared to admit, even after Valerie had truly left the castle. Yet he did not stop her. This ti, he chose silence and waiting.
What Demian did not know was that Valerie was heading sowhere entirely different.
The carriage stopped on a quieter street, far from the noise of the entertainnt district. The air there felt lighter, trees lined the road neatly, and in the distance stood the roof of Count Austin’s mansion a place filled with mories, not all of which she wished to revisit. But that was not Valerie’s destination.
She saw her first, from afar.
A woman stood by the roadside, waving enthusiastically, almost bouncing in place from excitent. Her brown hair was braided simply, her dress modest but neat and that face... a face Valerie knew all too well.
"Valerie!"
Valerie’s smile blood instantly, genuine and unburdened. She quickened her steps.
"Es!"
They t in the middle of the road and imdiately embraced. The hug was warm, filled with soft laughter and a relief that was difficult to put into words the embrace of two people who had walked through life in different ways, yet could still recognize each other without needing to speak.
"I can hardly believe you really ca," Es said, her eyes shining. "I was afraid you might change your mind."
"There was no way I would cancel this," Valerie replied with a quiet laugh. "I missed you so much."
But just then when Valerie stepped slightly to the side she saw him.
A man stood not far from Es. He was taller than Valerie rembered, his shoulders broader, his face more mature. His dark hair was neatly styled, his gaze calm no longer careless as it once had been.
Valerie’s steps slowed.
"It’s been a long ti, Valerie."
The sound of that voice made her stop completely.
Ethan.
The na echoed briefly in her mind, carrying faint old mories no longer heart-racing, no longer painful, but enough to leave a strange tightness in her chest. It had been so long since she last saw him. Too long to be casual, too short to pretend to be strangers.
Valerie looked at him for several seconds before finally offering a small smile. "Yes," she said softly. "It has."
Es glanced between them, clearly sensing the sudden stillness that had settled. She adjusted her hands, then spoke a little too quickly, "Valerie, I ca here alone at first. I ran into Ethan by chance on the road he offered to walk with for a bit." She smiled awkwardly. "It’s all right if Ethan joins us, isn’t it?"
There was caution in Es’s voice. Not fear of rejection, but of unnecessary tension.
Valerie took a small breath, then turned back to Ethan. Her gaze was calr now.
"Why say it like that?" she asked gently. "Ethan is my friend too."
She turned to Es with a smile. "Of course it’s fine."
Then she looked back at Ethan. "Right?"
Ethan smiled a smile that wasn’t forced, wasn’t excessive. He nodded slightly.
"Right," he said. "We played together since we were children. I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be awkward."
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