And then, with no thought, no plan, Ruby's body surged forward.
She had to stop him.
She had to.
With trembling hands, she lifted the heavy fabric of her gown, running toward the open door. Her feet pounded against the floor, each step desperate, a cry of hope that he might hear her.
"Edward!"
But he didn't turn around.
And she knew, as the distance between them grew, that he never would again.
Her voice cracked, raw with desperation.
Ruby rushed through the grand hallway, past the stunned faces of her family, past the flickering candlelight, past the shattered remains of what was supposed to be a joyous night.
"Edward!"
She burst into the garden, the cold night air biting at her heated skin. The sky above stretched out into an endless abyss, the stars offering no comfort, no light—only darkness.
And there he stood.
His silhouette was outlined in the soft glow of lanterns, framed by the stone pathway. His posture was tense, his hands clenched into fists. He wasn't just standing there. He was ready to leave.
No… no, he can't just leave like this.
Ruby's feet moved on their own, her breath ragged as she sprinted toward him, the weight of the world pressing down on her chest. She threw herself in front of him, arms outstretched, blocking his path.
"Wait!"
Edward stopped short, his face twisting into an expression of annoyance.
His golden-brown eyes—eyes that once held warmth, love—were now cold, distant. Unrecognizable.
He exhaled sharply, jaw tightening. "Ruby, step aside."
She shook her head, her whole body trembling with the force of her emotions.
"No." Her voice was hoarse, but there was steel in it. "You cannot do this."
Her legs wobbled, but she refused to move, the adrenaline surging through her veins.
"You have to tell me why." Her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress, holding onto it like a lifeline. "What did I do wrong? Why did you change so much? What happened to you?"
Her voice cracked on the last word, her chest tightening in anguish. She could barely hold herself together, but she wasn't going to let him walk away.
Edward's expression darkened. His eyes flickered with something unreadable before they hardened, a mask of indifference settling over his face.
"Listen, Ruby." His voice dropped to a quieter, colder tone. "I have someone I love now."
Her heart stopped.
Her ears rang with the sound of those words. The world tilted beneath her feet, and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
Edward's next words shattered the fragments of her shattered soul.
"And we are married."
The wind howled through the trees, the sound distant, muffled. But Ruby couldn't hear it. All she could hear was the deafening echo of his words ringing in her mind.
Married?
Her mouth moved, but no words came. She stared at him, unable to process, unable to believe. The cold seeped into her bones, but it was nothing compared to the ice now settling in her chest.
"But… I am your wife." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Your legal wife."
Edward sighed, rubbing his forehead as though she was an inconvenience, an annoyance he was forced to tolerate.
"Ruby, listen," he said, his voice sharper, dismissive. "What happened between us was a mistake."
A mistake.
The word slammed into her like a physical blow.
"A mistake?" she repeated, numbness creeping over her words. "Everything was a mistake?"
Edward's eyes met hers, and for a fleeting moment, they softened. But just as quickly, that softness disappeared, leaving only a cold emptiness.
"Yes. Everything was a mistake." His words came slow, deliberate, as though he had said them before. "What I felt for you... it wasn't love."
The world around her seemed to collapse.
Ruby's hands instinctively clutched her chest as though trying to hold herself together, but she was crumbling, piece by piece.
His words weren't just breaking her—they were destroying her.
Edward's expression turned to something more tired than cruel, but the damage was done. His indifference cut deeper than any anger could have.
"You see, Ruby," he continued, his voice calm, almost patronizing, "we grew up hearing the same thing over and over. That we were supposed to be together. That we belonged together. Of course, I thought I loved you. But it was just... familiarity. A childhood attachment. Nothing more." He scoffed, shaking his head. "It was never real."
The more he spoke, the further she fell into herself.
Her hands shook violently as she stared at him, tears brimming in her eyes, but she held them back, refusing to let him see the extent of her devastation.
She didn't understand.
How could something so deep, something she had believed in for so long, be reduced to nothing in his eyes?
Her breath caught in her throat. She wanted to scream.
To tell him he was lying.
That all the moments—the stolen glances, the nights filled with whispered promises, the way he had held her close—it had to have meant something. It had to be real.
But the man before her wasn't Edward. The man standing before her was a stranger, a man who had moved on, who no longer saw her as his wife.
Her lips parted, but no words came.
Because for the first time in her life, she had nothing left to say.
Edward turned his back, and without a second glance, walked away.
And this time, he didn't look back.
---
The Day Ruby's World Collapsed
That day, Ruby's world shattered beyond repair.
She could still hear his voice, cold and final, repeating the words that tore through her like a blade.
"Everything was a mistake."
When Edward walked away, something inside her cracked, something irreparable, a part of her she would never get back.
She sat there, frozen in the middle of the garden, the soft glow of lanterns surrounding her, the faint rustling of wind the only sound she could hear. The house behind her—her home, once filled with the warmth of their shared life—now felt foreign, like it belonged to someone else.
Her chest ached with an emptiness she didn't know how to fill.