Even an hour after her maid left, Ashelia remained in deep thought. She absentmindedly stroked her wolf's fur as the letter continued to replay in her memories.

  She sighed. ‘What do I do now?’

  She had already made it known to Saya that she didn't want to attend, but it was obviously just bluff.

  Her emotions had gotten the best of her.

  It wasn't like she had a choice. Rejecting a direct invitation from a member of the Imperial family might as well be considered treason...

  Ashelia knew she made Saya upset. ‘I should have been gentler… ‘ She paused, then clenched a fistful of her hair. ‘Urgh! But this is all that idiotic Reagan's fault!'

  Her peaceful mood became nonexistent the moment she laid eyes on that letter!

  “I swear if he demands something stupid again..” She mumbled.

  Ashelia remembered the first time she met him, the infamous Reagan Von Dalniar… a Prince only in name… and her one and only… fiancé.

  She closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh.

  On a perfectly sunny day, she and Reagan were seated in the gazebo of the Palace's rose garden, sipping fragrant tea as they usually did.

  There was silence between them for a long, long time. Curious and uncomfortable, Ashelia peeked at him from over her teacup.

  “...You seem lost.”

  Reagan flinched. “Ah… I'm sorry…” He apologised, fiddling with his teacup on the table. “I called you here and yet–”

  “Reagan.” Ashelia called firmly. “Is there something you want to say?”

  Raegan paused, then gave a lopsided grin. “It does seem that way, doesn't it?”

  Ashelia furrowed her brows at him. "Something happened, didn't it?" She tensed, her fist clenched. “One of your siblings must have–”

  “Haha.” Reagan laughed. “It's nothing like that… though I do appreciate you getting upset on my behalf.”

  Ashelia relaxed. "What's the matter then?"

  Raegan blinked at her, shifted his gaze downwards to the table and began to scratch away at the painting of his teacup.

  "I... I've been contemplating something for a while now... something I want to accomplish as soon as possible." He paused, and his eyes lost focus for a moment. "Though it’ll seem like a foolish dream for someone like me, I've thought hard about it, and with your help, I… I think it'll be possible."

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  Ashelia's eyes widened for a moment, then she smiled brightly. "Rarely do you speak of something you want to do. Are you still the Reagan I know?"

  For as long as she had known him, Raegan had never regarded himself as someone who could accomplish anything.

  That thought process of his always worried her but today, she couldn't imagine herself being happier.

  The Prince chortled.

  "Let's hear it," she urged. "What is this goal you speak of?"

  A deep crease formed between Reagan’s brows, his expression quickly turning serious. "I'm afraid I can't tell you... not yet."

  "Not yet?" Ashelia echoed in confusion as she held up her teacup. "If you do not tell me, how am I supposed to help you?"

  "I assure you that you can, even without knowing," he told her, then his gaze lowered. "...Getting married to me should be more than enough for now," he muttered.

  Ashelia’s breath hitched and she nearly choked on her tea. "What...?" she asked in a low voice, her fingers tightening around the handle of the hard ceramic cup.

  Reagan looked up at her in shock. "You heard me...?"

  "I... I..." Ashelia stuttered, eyes darting around searching for an excuse. She had never been good at lying. "Yes… I heard you."

  Reagan wanted to ask 'how,' but the look on her face caught his attention and his eyebrows furrowed sadly.

  “Shelly… is the thought of marrying me that deplorable to you?"

  He knew he was only a prince in name, with no semblance of power. The imperial family consisted of powerful mages, and unlike his siblings, Reagan knew no magic.

  His dead mother, a mistress to the emperor, was purely human, without a trace of mana. She was an outlier in the palace and so was he.

  Yet, Ashelia was one out of countless around him who took him as he was, despite being a mage herself.

  The thought of her potential rejection opened wounds he didn't even know he had.

  "That's… not how I feel..." she responded.

  "The look on your face says otherwise."

  Ashelia flinched, realizing that her noble demeanor had collapsed. Her fingers tightened even more around the teacup handle, prompting a low cracking sound.

  She'd broken it.

  The teacup fell free, spilling tea on her dress and shattering to pieces when it collided with the floor.

  “Shelly!” Reagan yelled in a panic as he rushed to kneel beside her. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did the shards cut you?”

  “No…” Ashelia croaked as a trembling hand unconsciously moved to clench the Prince's shoulder, making him flinch.

  “Shelly…?”

  “Why…?” Ashelia started in a brittle voice. “Why… do you want to marry me, Reagan?”

  Her grip tightened. “What's going to happen to our friendship if you marry me, Reagan?!” She yelled. “Will it remain the same?!”

  Ashelia bit down on her lower lip. ‘Why… Why would you do this to me, Reagan?’ She thought. ‘Apart from my family… you're the only one I have. So how could you do this to me?’

  How could he be so selfish?

  The moment he opened his mouth, she knew that his request had utterly destroyed any semblance of pure friendship they had between them.

  It was undeniably a confession of love… from someone every fiber of her being considered a friend.

  Her one and only friend…

  Then and there, Ashelia instinctively knew that they could never go back to how they were before, an irreparable rift had formed, because she knew that could never reciprocate his feelings.

  A sob escaped her lips and she began to cry.