Chapter 131
Aurora quietly excused herself
"I'm sorry..."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I... I need to be alone for a little while."
Neither Owen nor Eleanor tried to stop her.
The Duchess simply stood and kissed her daughter's forehead.
"Take all the time you need, my darling."
Owen gently squeezed her shoulder.
"No matter what you decide......we'll stand beside you."
Aurora nodded, unable to trust herself to speak.
She slowly left the room.
The manor was unusually quiet.
Only the distant chirping of evening birds broke the silence.
Almost without thinking, Aurora made her way toward her bedroom.
She opened the balcony doors. A gentle breeze welcomed her.
The familiar flowerpots sat exactly where they always had.
Three flowers.
Three names.
Three people she carried inside her heart every single day.
She knelt before them.
Her trembling fingers brushed against the small wooden marker.
Dante.
A tear slipped silently down her cheek.
Then another.
And another.
Before she realised it...
She was crying.
Not quietly.
Not gracefully.
The kind of crying that came from somewhere deep inside the soul.
She lowered her forehead until it rested against the edge of the flowerpot.
"I'm lost..."
Her voice broke.
"What am I supposed to do?"
The breeze answered with silence.
She smiled weakly through her tears.
"I know...I'm talking to flowers again."
Another tear landed on the soil.
"Dante..."
Her fingers tightened around the pot.
"Would loving someone else......be betraying you?"
The words hurt more than she had expected.
"I don't want to forget you."
"I don't want to wake up one day and realise your face has become blurry."
"I don't want your laugh to disappear."
"I don't want to lose us."
Her shoulders shook violently.
"I still remember the cabin."
"The lake."
"The strawberries you always stole from my plate."
A small laugh escaped her between sobs.
"You were impossible."
She wiped at her eyes.
"You always cheated at board games."
"You always pretended you didn't."
"You always smiled afterwards because you knew I'd figured it out."
She smiled.
Then immediately cried harder.
"I miss you."
"So much."
"I miss Sarah."
"I miss Mike."
"I miss home."
The word echoed painfully.
Home.
Was it the modern world?
Or...
Was it here now?
She didn't know anymore.
"I promised all of you......that if I ever got another chance..."
"...I'd save them."
"My parents."
"The Duchy."
"The children."
"The people."
She looked toward the sky.
"And I did."
Her voice trembled.
"I've tried so hard. But now..."
She laughed bitterly.
"Now my heart doesn't know what to do."
She wrapped her arms around herself.
"Lucian..."
The name felt strange.
"So much has changed."
She closed her eyes.
"The old Lucian wouldn't have carried wounded miners."
"He wouldn't have spent days helping strangers."
"He wouldn't have apologised."
"He wouldn't have searched ancient law books just to save my people."
A long silence followed.
"The man standing before me today......isn't the same man I knew."
Her tears continued falling.
"And somehow......he's becoming someone..."
"...I think I could love."
The confession shattered what little composure remained.
She covered her face with both hands.
"But if I love him......does that mean I loved you less?"
The question echoed into the quiet evening.
"I don't want our love to become something that only existed in another life."
"I don't want it to disappear."
"I don't want to lose you again."
The breeze stirred gently.
For a long time...
Aurora simply cried.
Then...
A memory surfaced.
So vivid it almost felt real.
They had been sitting outside the old cabin after a particularly difficult day at the hospital.
Aurora had lost a patient.
She had blamed herself.
Exactly as she was blaming herself now.
She remembered burying her face against Dante's shoulder.
"I failed."
Dante had smiled sadly.
"No."
"I did."
"You couldn't save him."
He had gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"A doctor doesn't choose who lives."
She looked at him through tear-filled eyes.
"What does a doctor choose then?"
Dante had smiled,
"A doctor chooses......never to stop trying."
The memory faded.
Aurora stared silently at the flowers.
Fresh tears rolled down her face.
A small smile slowly appeared.
"You always knew what to say."
She laughed softly.
Even now.
Even after all this time.
"You idiot..."
She wiped away her tears.
"I can almost hear you telling me to stop crying."
In her heart...
She could almost hear his laughter.
"Aurora..."
"If you ever get another chance..."
"Live."
Not survive.
Live.
She looked down at the flowers once more.
"I'll never stop loving you."
Her voice was steady now.
"You'll always be my first love."
"You'll always be part of me."
She placed her hand gently over her heart.
"But maybe..."
She smiled through fresh tears.
"...loving again doesn't mean loving you less."
"It simply means......my heart learned to grow."
The evening breeze gently swayed the flowers.
Aurora slowly stood.
Her legs still felt weak.
Her heart still ached.
The grief hadn't disappeared.
Perhaps it never would.
But for the first time...
The guilt had begun to fade.
She looked one last time at the little flowerpot.
"Thank you."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"For loving me enough..."
"...to teach me how to let you go."
As she quietly walked back into the manor...
The flowers continued swaying gently beneath the evening sky.
And somehow...
For the first time since returning to the past...
Aurora felt as though one lifetime had finally given the next its blessing.
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