The Weight Of Leaving by Riven Kade novel Chapter 30

Chapter 4

By the time Vance reached Nocturne Tower, I was already sitting on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling over the side.

I tilted my head back to gaze at the stars scattered across the sky.

Mother once told me: when people die, they become stars in the heavens.

I wondered which one of them was her… and which one was my child.

When I die, will I be able to join them?

Vance’s eyes were bloodshot. He was burning with rage–yet beneath it, there was a fear he could no longer conceal.

“Selene, what a good trick,” he spat. “You’re using death to threaten me now?”

“If you don’t want to anger me, then get down here–now!”

My dull eyes slowly turned toward him.

“Vance.”

In the past five years, I had called his name with hatred, with pleading, but never before with such calm.

Perhaps, in the face of death, all the love and hate no longer mattered.

“I’m not trying to threaten you,” I said.

“I had thought it through. You and I… we were destined to be tragic lovers.”

“We only bring each other pain. You’re not happy. Neither am I. So why should we go on?”

Vance’s lips trembled. His hands were clenched tightly inside his sleeves.

“Whether you’re happy or not–that’s not up to you to decide!”

“You haven’t repaid your debts. What right do you have to die?”

I was taken aback. I turned my face and continued staring at the stars.

‘I can’t repay them. I no longer expect your forgiveness.”

“Vance, for the sake of the ten years I’ve loved you… let me go.”

The wind carried my faint words into Vance’s ears, and his heart trembled.

When he saw the lifeless look in my eyes, he finally realized I wasn’t bluffing.

His voice shook even more, and he instinctively moved closer to me.

“Selene, you can’t die!”

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“Don’t you want to know where our child is buried?”

Seeing me lean further out, he finally used the one word he thought could stop me.

“Child.”

Sure enough, I paused and looked at him again.

I saw the nervous lines on his face and remembered how he had ordered firewood that day with such cruel resolve.

I gave him a bitter, broken smile.

“Vance, do you know…”

There’s not a father in this world who would kill his own child with his own hands.”

“And none who would reduce their child’s remains to ashes.”

If our child was watching from heaven, I was certain he wouldn’t want a father like you.

Vance’s eyes were blood–red.

He no longer cared about pride or appearances.

He looked at me, begging, “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have taken my hatred out on the baby.”

“Selene, please… don’t jump. Don’t jump. I beg you-”

I shook my head and leaned forward to peer down below.

“Vance, I’m exhausted.”

“Let’s end things here.”

Without hesitation, I leaped from Nocturne Tower,

Vance and I first met in the thirty–sixth year of the new king’s reign.

That year, I had just come of age, and my mother personally escorted me to the Holy Well on the outskirts of Asteria for

blessings.

In the solemn ceremony, I handed the tea leaves in my cup to the diviner.

She accepted them but only sighed deeply.

My mother grew anxious and pressed her for an explanation.

The diviner, her aged eyes fixed on me, spoke in cryptic words.

Bored by the vague prophecies, I slipped away unnoticed and wandered to the hills behind the sanctuary,

The hills of the Holy Well were famed as the “Sea of Roses.”

Charter A

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In early spring, the roses bloomed in abundance, and I frolicked joyfully through the blossoms–until I accidentally

collided with Vance, who had been meditating there.

Clad in white, he sat perched on a tree branch.

With one slender hand, he lifted a rose–laden bough, revealing a face so striking behind the petals that it stole my

breath.

A gust of wind swept through, scattering rose petals like a crimson storm.

I stood frozen, staring up at Vance, unsure whether the roses had dazzled my sight–or if he had already claimed my

heart.

Regardless, I fell helplessly in love with him.

On the journey home, I clung to my mother’s arm in the carriage, giddy as any maiden with her first crush. I confessed

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