"A child?" Vivian asked, his brows knitting together as he looked at her in confusion.
She t his gaze without backing down.
Her eyes were firm, steady, as if to say she was serious and would not take her words back. This was not a joke, and she wanted an answer.
Seeing her expression, Vivian fell silent for a mont. He thought carefully before speaking again.
"Are you certain?" he asked at last.
The request had co suddenly, but it wasn’t sothing he disliked.
In that dream-like state, when he had been close to death, his final wish had been simple..to hold his child, even once.
But fate had not allowed it.
He had died before the baby was born.
Rembering that, a quiet warmth rose in his chest. He kept his face calm, but inside, he was very happy.
"Yes," Charlotte said. Her voice was soft but firm. Her eyes did not waver even a little.
Vivian let out a slow breath. "Alright..." He nodded in the end.
He didn’t fully understand why she wanted a child so suddenly, but that didn’t matter.
If she wanted it, then he would give it to her.
They stayed there for a short while, standing in silence.
Then the two of them rose from the mountain and flew into the sky.
Night had already fallen, and the world below was dark and quiet. The wind brushed past them as Vivian flew forward, carrying both of them into the open sky.
As Vivian flew through the sky with Charlotte in his arms, his eyes slowly drifted to her face.
Without realizing it, he began to stare. She looked even more beautiful than before.
She was no longer a young girl. She was a woman now, standing at her best age.
At twenty-three, her beauty had reached its peak.
She had always been beautiful, the kind that could outshine any so-called jade beauty, but now there was sothing more.
A calm, mature charm surrounded her.
Her face was soft and gentle. Her long hair was tied neatly into a bun, exposing her long, pale neck.
Every small movent caught his attention...the light flutter of her eyelashes, the way she gently bit her lips without knowing it, the faint blush resting on her cheeks.
To Vivian, these were the most beautiful things in the world. And it wasn’t just these small details.
Everything about her felt beautiful. Anything connected to Charlotte seed perfect in his eyes.
Charlotte had been looking ahead when she suddenly felt a strange gaze.
She turned her head and saw Vivian staring at her with a dazed expression.
She blinked in surprise.
A hint of embarrassnt flashed across her face as she quickly fixed her clothes and adjusted her hair.
That small movent snapped Vivian out of his thoughts.
He realized what he had been doing and quickly looked away, his calm expression returning as if nothing had happened.
But the quiet warmth in his heart refused to fade.
"What are you looking at?" Charlotte asked, trying to shake off her embarrassnt.
Vivian looked calm as ever. "My wife," he said plainly.
Her face instantly turned even redder.
This ti, however, she didn’t deny it. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned closer.
"If I’m your wife," she said softly, "then husband, how about we announce it to the others?"
"Hm..." Vivian humd as he thought for a mont. "Alright. You can announce it," he said. Then he added honestly, "but no parties."
He truly disliked parties and loud celebrations. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t even tell anyone at all.
"But—" Charlotte spoke again, frowning slightly.
"What about the nobles? They’ll call us stingy. They’ll say, ’Hmph, the princess and the heir of Zenithara? So stingy they can’t even hold a celebration.’"
She even copied their voices, puffing out her cheeks and imitating the tone of those big-bellied nobles.
Seeing this, Vivian couldn’t help it. A laugh escaped his mouth.
"What does it matter if they call us stingy?" he said lightly. "Besides, they wouldn’t dare say it to our faces."
"They won’t," Charlotte replied with a deeper frown. "But they’ll definitely say it behind our backs."
The night wind passed by them, carrying her words away, but the small smile on Vivian’s lips did not fade.
As they continued flying toward the Zenithara estate, they talked about many things along the way.
Vivian didn’t have much to say. Most of the ti, it was Charlotte who spoke, her voice barely stopping as she filled the silence.
She told him everything that had happened during the four years he was away..how the capital had changed, how new districts were built, and how old places no longer felt the sa.
She even ntioned the academy, speaking with excitent and worry mixed together.
Vivian listened quietly. Before he realized it, the estate had co into view.
After a while, Vivian descended and landed inside the estate grounds, gently setting Charlotte down from his arms.
Charlotte landed gracefully, but there was a slight hesitation in her eyes.
She looked at him and said softly, "And most importantly... during these past four years, Edward has gone through many things."
As she spoke, a trace of worry appeared in her eyes.
Hearing Edward’s na, Vivian turned fully toward her.
Since his return, he hadn’t seen Edward even once.
His mother had told him that Edward was staying with his maternal family and would return tomorrow, so Vivian hadn’t thought much about it. He planned to et him then.
But Charlotte’s words..and more importantly, her tone...made his heart tighten.
"What do you an?" Vivian asked, his brows furrowing.
It wasn’t the words themselves that troubled him. It was the weight behind them.
Charlotte opened her mouth, then stopped. Her expression turned conflicted.
"You should ask him..." she said, then shook her head. "No... don’t ask him."
She looked away for a mont, struggling to explain.
Finally, she t his eyes again and said quietly, "You should try to understand it on your own. Without asking anyone."
The air between them grew heavy as her words settled in.
"What do you an?" he asked.
He didn’t understand what she was trying to say, but her tone and expression made one thing clear...this was serious, and it involved Edward.
"Did sothing happen to him?" he asked again, worry finally showing on his face.
The last ti he had seen Edward was nearly five years ago.
Back then, Edward had been cheerful and full of life. But five years was a long ti.
Too long. Many things could change in that ti... people included.
Charlotte slowly shook her head. "I can’t tell you," she said softly. "Your mother won’t tell you either. Neither will Grandfather."
She looked at him with a complicated expression. "You’ll have to figure it out on your own."
Her words left a heavy feeling in Vivian’s chest.
Charlotte looked at Vivian with a soft smile, but her eyes showed she was holding back.
"What do you an, Charlotte? Is this so kind of ga you’re playing? Just tell what happened," Vivian said, his face turning serious.
He felt worried, and if she didn’t speak up soon, he would rush straight to his maternal grandfather’s house.
"Look, Vivian, whatever happened is really easy to guess," Charlotte replied gently.
"You just need to watch him closely tomorrow when he cos, and you’ll figure it out."
She wanted to tell him everything, but Edward had made them promise under a blood oath not to say a word.
It all started when Edward ca back ho.
He looked sad and down, and the pinky finger on his left hand was cut off.
When Elena asked how it happened, Edward said it got severed during training and then fell down a big hill, so he couldn’t reattach it.
Elena didn’t believe his story at first, but Edward quickly made up so excuses and left the room.
Then, after one year, Charlotte’s mother ca to visit her and shared the real truth.
She explained that Edward had been close to her uncle’s daughter for a while.
They both liked each other a lot and spent ti together. But from last year, they suddenly stopped eting.
No one knew why at first, but it seed like sothing big had gone wrong between their families, making it impossible for them to be together.
Edward’s gloomy mood and the missing finger were signs of the pain he was hiding from that heartbreak.
When she and Elena confronted him, he told them everything that had happened but before he told them he made them swear a blood oath that wouldn’t tell Vivian or anyone about it.
He seed gloomy at first, but within a few months he returned to his old self, except when Selena was ntioned. Then, his expression would darken.
Charlotte hoped Vivian would notice these clues tomorrow and understand without her breaking the oath.
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