The weather was great. The sky was so blue and the sun shine brightly upon the empire. If only she could enjoy the day like others strolling around with their loved ones, instead she waited for the man she loved wholeheartedly in the quiet room, accompany by untouched cup of tea which has gone cold, indicating how long she has been waiting. It has always been like this. She has been waiting for him to come to her, to finally love her. She thought he would come to love her since they were engaged and about to get married. Oh how wrong she was!
Even after getting engaged for 3 years, he has never really cared about her. Even when he was physically with her, his heart wasn't. She had enough. Now she won't wait for him anymore. Well, this time would be the last time she waited for that man.
The door opened, and came a handsome man with cold aura. His black hair and black eyes, a rare combination in the empire and a sign of their noble blood and power, making him looks more untouchable to the ordinary looking her, or so she thought. He came straight to the sofa in front of her and sat down. She smiled bitterly at the sight of him, unbothered to even apologized after making her waited for almost 3 hours.
"You're here." She said but no answer.
She chuckled and continue.
"Since Your Grace are busy, I will not beat around the bush. I want to break of our engagement."
For a moment, he seems surprised. And that make her sadder. His surprised is a reminder of how in love she was that breaking the engagement would be the last thing she would do.
"Are you sure?"
Finally his voice could be heard in the otherwise quiet room. This is the first time, she heard his voice in about two weeks.
"Of course. I have a request though."
She looked him in the eyes, and said her request with smile adorning her beautiful face.
"Please don't make other girls as your shield just because you want to protect the woman you love."
It was silent after that. The shocked on his face was comical. He tried to speak but nothing came out of his mouth. Seeing him like that for the first time made her want to laugh but she settle for smiling a bit wider. This time her smile reached her eyes.
"I waited for you to love me back. But I have always thought that if you can't love me then you would tell me and then I might stop loving you. But you never did, you let me wait for you in the corner all this time. I know I can't really blame you, since you never told me to love or wait for you. It is all on me. But since you have the audacity to propose the engagement to protect the woman you love, you should have the bravery to end it too, don't you think?"
Gone was the smile. There was only resentment in her eyes for the man who looked at her in silent.
"Since now you have become the duke, I sincerely hope that you will face all the obstacle to be with the woman you love, instead of making another woman heartbroken."
Not waiting for a reply, she stood up and walked to the door. Before opening the door, she stopped and looked back.
"As a count's daughter, I would get in trouble for speaking like that to Your Grace, but I hope you would be kind enough to remember the 3 years I spend as your fiancé and won't find fault with my family."
They stared at each other for a while then she turned back and went out of the door. Her personal maid and the butler of the ducal house has been waiting outside the door. The butler bowed at her, and she gave the kind butler a smile. This might be their last meeting. After that she went out of the mansion with her personal maid through the long hallway. She tried to give appreciation for the magnificent place for the last time.
Fortunately she didn't meet other family member of the duke, so she went out peacefully. She met her personal knights outside, waiting with the carriage that would take her home. Her personal maid helped her to get in before coming in herself. She could feel her stare but she ignored it and just looked out of the window.
Just like that, her 3 years love has gone by. No, actually she has love him since she was 15, so it would be 5 years of one sided love. What was she hoping coming to meet that man. She knew he would not apologize even after getting caught using her, but she went anyway. Her father told her that he would take care of it, even her brother had every intention to go find the duke himself and possibly getting into trouble for beating the duke, in case he could beat him anyway. But she told them that she would be the one to meet him. Closure? Maybe that was what she was looking for.
For now, she would go back to enjoy her life with her family and possibly travel to another kingdom. Oh yeah she had always want to travel around the world, and now she would. At the prospect of leaving the empire and make her dream of travelling come true, she smiled genuinely.
Seeing her smile so beautifully for the first time in a while, her personal maid gave a smile of her own.
"It's okay. My Lady would be fine." She thought.
What would happened to her anyway. She is Lady Aishlinn, the daughter of the wealthiest man in the Astoria Empire. It was just one man, even though he was a duke, he wasn't the only man in the world. There would be another man for her.
At that time, they didn't know there really is another man who have been silently in love with her. A crown prince at that. Well it would be shocking when they found out, right?