After running and running, Sarah finally fled to a place where no one else was.
Even she didn’t know where she had ended up. But it didn’t seem to matter.
At that moment, she didn’t want to face anyone.
Sarah lifted her head in a daze and looked up at the sky.
It was clear and bright—just like any ordinary sky, with white clouds drifting lazily across it.
But not to her.
To Sarah, the sky looked like the end of a world—dull and meaningless.
Just like how she felt inside.
“…Ha…”
It was painful.
Her heart ached.
She could no longer bear to look at the sky.
As it was, the thought of disappearing somewhere completely consumed her.
She didn’t want to be here anymore. She didn’t want to stay in the Duchy of Decaraznan. She didn’t want to remain in this place that had caused her so much pain. She didn’t want to stay in the same place where Lady Decaraznan—who had taken him away—still lived.
But that didn’t mean Sarah could leave.
No, she could never walk away.
Because he was still here.
Because the man she missed so painfully, the one who broke her heart and made her long for him even now—he remained in the Duke’s territory.
Most of all, he had made a promise to her.
He told her:
[I will definitely save you. I will end the nightmare surrounding you. So please… bear with me just a little longer.]
It was a contradiction.
For a woman named Sarah Cernard, that promise was a contradiction in itself.
The despair and sorrow that pierced her heart… the cruel reality that crushed her spirit…
And in that very same moment, the joy, the hope—the only light that kept her going—also stemmed from him.
It was as if a man named Cain von Estel made up every part of the woman named Sarah Cernard.
“…Cain.”
Once again, tears rolled down her cheeks. She found herself thinking how she had become such a crybaby.
…But the truth was, she had known it all along.
From the very beginning, she had known.
It had always been her fault.
This was her karma.
The pain she was feeling now was simply the result of her own actions.
From the moment they met years ago, up until their official breakup a few months prior, Sarah had never loved him. Not once had she felt even the faintest trace of affection.
To Sarah Cernard, her engagement to Cain von Estel had been nothing more than duty—an arrangement. An official event. She believed there was no room for personal emotions in it.
She had always known how Cain felt.
He hadn’t even tried to hide his love for her.
Watching him react to her every word and action, the younger Sarah could only see him as… a clown.
That was why she kept her distance.
She ignored all his affections, all the love and devotion he tried to give.
They both believed—firmly—that in the end, it was better not to share sympathy.
And yet… so much happened after that.
There was a night, deep in the middle of the imperial palace, when they had a quiet conversation on the terrace. It was something Sarah would never forget.
Then there was the event some days ago–-he had seen her being treated harshly by her uncle after not seeing each other for years.
It had been terrifying.
In front of others, she never wanted anyone to know just how broken she truly was. But Sarah hadn’t expected that she would reveal her true self to him—not to anyone else, just him.
She was terrified that, once he saw how small and fragile she was inside, he would mock her.
But he didn’t.
He got angry for her. He wept with her. He raged for the life she had lived.
It was the first time. The first time she had poured everything out to someone. The first time someone else comforted her. The first time someone, seeing her vulnerability, proudly declared:
[I will save you.]
In all her beginnings… he had always been there.
That declaration—his vow to save her—had been reckless, childish even.
A fantasy from someone who couldn’t yet grasp the weight of reality.
…And yet, it reached her.
His heart—pure, without calculation—touched her deeply.
At some point… her own heart had begun to race while looking at him.
She didn’t know love. She knew nothing of the warmth between a man and a woman—nothing of sorrow, nothing of affection. But there was one thing she understood with absolute clarity.
At this moment, just seeing him made her heart beat for an entirely different reason than ever before.
…But it was already too late.
Everything had ended long ago. Her feelings would never reach him now.
‘Do you know?’
‘It was only after coming here that I realized—I love you. I look only at you… but you no longer looked back.’
‘In your eyes, not even a trace of that feeling reflected back at me.’
Yes… didn’t he say it himself?
That their relationship was now beyond repair. Like water spilled that couldn’t be gathered again. Like a shattered mirror that could never be pieced back together.
…It hurt.
When something hurts, everything hurts.
It hurt that his love—once wholly devoted to her—no longer reached her.