Chapter 4

I pushed myself up from the ground, brushing the dust from my silk nightgown.

The fire cast a warm glow on my face, but my voice was ice.

“It’s fine. I opened it and thought I saw rot. So I burned it.”

Seeing my movement, he finally realized he had gone too far.

He took a deep breath.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, I was just… frantic. We’ve been filling that box for a century. Weren't we going to display it for the whole Covenant at our blood bond ceremony? Why would you suddenly burn it?”

“If there was rot, you could have waited for me. Or sent me a message. I would have fixed it.”

This man was no longer the boy who had promised to protect me for all eternity.

I couldn't even stand to look at him.

“You haven’t been back in a long time. You must be busy. I didn’t want to bother you with something so small.”

“And Kaelan,” I said, my smile as cold as the grave, “none of it was ever for me. For a century, you hunted down every rose-related treasure in the world. But you never once stopped to ask…” I paused, letting the silence hang between us. “What I actually liked.”

His pupils shrank. “What do you mean?”

I looked him dead in the eye and said, word by word, “I hate Stygian Roses.”

He stood beside me, his gaze full of guilt.

The irony was suffocating.

He was playing the part of the devoted lover, yet he didn’t even know the favorite flower of the woman he’d been with for a century. But he knew every preference of a human assistant he’d met just months ago.

I turned to leave. He thought I was just throwing a fit. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into his embrace.

His cold presence surrounded me. It made my skin crawl.

He didn't let go. Instead, his voice filled with concern.

“Is your strength still not back? I’m sorry. I admit I’ve been busy lately, and I’ve neglected you. Once I get through the next couple of days, I’ll take you to pick out new gifts you actually like. How about that? I’ll get you double!”

Once, those words might have made me forgive him in a heartbeat.

But after being tortured to the brink by Silver Bells, I wanted nothing more to do with him.

He forgot my fatal poison for another woman. I couldn't lie to myself about this love any longer.

When he calmed down, I firmly pried his arms off me.

“Don’t apologize to me. If you’re really so sorry, then make it up to me with a proper centennial celebration.”

My centennial had been passed over because he was too busy building his Covenant.

But I was leaving in two days. I wanted one celebration with him there.

My request was so simple it seemed to make him nervous.

A flicker of unease crossed his face.

He nodded, then opened his mouth to ask something, but his phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and spoke rushedly.

“The elders’ meeting was moved up. I have to get back. Once we settle the synthetic blood distribution, and with your family’s support, my ‘Crimson Crown’ initiative will be stable. Don’t wait up for me tonight. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The words tumbled out of his mouth as he was already backing away.

Before his sentence was even finished, he had dissolved into mist and vanished through the gate.

I stood there, listening to that unique ringtone fade into the night.

It was Sylvia’s ringtone. I knew it.

But I didn’t call him out on it.

The next evening, the manor's grand hall was gaudily decorated.

Sylvia appeared as the "celebration planning assistant."

She directed servants to hang cheap decorations.

Plastic flowers, tacky streamers, and cheap-looking balloons.

“Lady Rosalie, what do you think of the décor?” she asked with a sweet smile. “I chose the most passionate colors to match the century of love between you and Kaelan.”

I looked at the circus before me, and felt nothing.

“It has your style.”

Night fell, and the so-called “centennial celebration” began.

Only a handful of Covenant members showed up. Most were whispering amongst themselves.

I knew what they were talking about.

“Lord Kaelan has arrived!”

Kaelan finally appeared, dressed in a formal black suit.

He walked toward me, reaching for my hand.

I noticed Sylvia standing in the crowd, a necklace around her throat.

A moonstone necklace.

My family’s heirloom moonstone necklace.

I’d lost it three months ago. I’d searched everywhere.

So, she had it.

“Lady Rosalie,” Sylvia said, walking over when she saw me looking. “Are you satisfied with the celebration? I put a lot of effort into it.”

She toyed with the moonstone at her neck, her smile sweet and defiant.

“It’s lovely,” I said, my eyes cold. “Fakes always stand out the most.”

The words had barely left my mouth when Sylvia snatched a silver letter opener from a nearby table.

“I know you don’t like me!” she cried. “But I haven’t done anything wrong!”

The next second, she plunged the blade into her own arm.

“Ah—!”

Blood gushed from the wound. She collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

“Sylvia!”

Kaelan appeared in a flash, a wave of his power slamming into me and knocking me back several steps.

“Have you lost your mind?!” he snarled, his eyes blazing with crimson fire as he shielded her. “She’s a fragile human! Why would you attack her?!”

He swept the trembling Sylvia into his arms and vanished into the night without a second glance at me.

The guests in the hall exchanged uneasy looks, then began to leave.

In less than half an hour, I was the only one left in the vast, empty hall.

I sat there alone all night.

In the morning, a servant brought me a birthday cake.

Black Forest, with a single white candle.

I poured myself a glass of aged blood and raised it.

“To our century.”

I drained the glass and blew out the candle.

My personal countdown hit zero.

I dragged my suitcase out the manor's main gate.

Sitting in the private car on the way to the airport, I pulled out my phone and sent Kaelan one last text.

"Our century is over."

With that one sentence, I said goodbye to a hundred years of my youth, and to my obsession with Kaelan.

With a roar, the plane took off. My phone immediately blew up with his frantic calls.