The Long-Awaited Reunion
She had never left my mind since I arrived in the capital. Whenever I thought of her during painful times, I could smile no matter the moment. Pay, you…
He stood blankly in the hallway, lost in thought.
‘Pay… mine…’
There was no proof.
‘But it wouldn’t make sense if it weren’t her.’
The Eina candidate originally scheduled to come instead of Dotricia.
The adorable, timid yet brave girl who had ‘coincidentally’ met and become entangled with me.
I still knew the true nature of my feelings. I did not love her romantically.
Yet I kept worrying about her, and when I noticed Lucia seemed to like her, I had felt terribly irritated.
It was the same feeling I had when Sir Raphael casually mentioned wanting to meet Pay.
I knew what that emotion was. Pay, you…!
Cassel tightly shut his eyes to suppress the urge to run to her at once, then quietly returned that day.
Just because the wait had been long did not mean he could ruin their first meeting in a mess.
Through his attendant Paul, he formally sent word that he wished to meet Pay.
Before heading to the meeting place, he gently stroked the Potyan Pay had carefully harvested and shared with him.
Perhaps because it had not fully dried, the yellow flowers still clinging to it were lovely, and the wrinkled leaves retained a trace of life. Even the sturdiest root still held its vibrant color, as if freshly dug.
But with time, it would eventually lose its moisture. Little by little, until it withered completely.
And just as she had said, it would become useless, discarded somewhere and forgotten.
“People are no different. After shedding tears again and again, the moment comes when they can no longer cry…”
Was it too late? Cassel desperately hoped it was not.
“It is not that the person has become incapable of feeling sadness. The pain must have soaked so deeply that it suffocates them. By then, everything is already over.”
He had sworn never to leave regrets again, yet he had broken that vow once more.
Thinking of the time he failed to recognize her while she stood right before him filled him with self-loathing.
Still, he had to go. If only to realize once more how worthless his foolishness was, and what dangers it had brought.
‘Huu.’
Pay wore a mage’s robe in white and blue.
Whenever she met Cassel, she had always worn ordinary clothes beneath the robe, but today she felt she must wear this one.
As she stepped down in front of the Mijuang Hotel where they were to meet, the curious glances from passersby did not bother her.
“Beep beep!”
“Momo, you seem to have grown since last time.”
“Beep?”
Momo, oblivious to how grotesque his true form was, tilted his head in confusion at the mention of his increased size.
Then he shook his fluffy white head, proudly displaying his cuteness.
“Hehe.”
“Lady Pay, the Grand Duke of Klein has arrived. Shall I show him in?”
“Yes.”
A hotel attendant hurried over to announce his arrival.
The pleasant moment playing with Momo had to be set aside. Having that warm little creature on her palm always eased her tension.
At last, they would meet.
Not as her knight Leon and the mage Pay…
But the fateful day when Cassel Deuflion Klein and Tiana Marietta Klein—who had lived as Morgana and Pay—would finally stand face to face.
Her feelings were worlds apart from when she had gone to the imperial palace at the crown prince’s request.
She could not guess what expression he would show. Perhaps he would demand to know why she had not told him sooner, or why she had remained silent even when standing before him.
In a way, he had been thoroughly deceived by the impostor.
‘Has Cassel ever openly shown anger toward me? I always thought him a strong knight, yet I was never afraid of him. That must be because he always considered my feelings.’
“What will you do?”
Lucia had asked her yesterday after seeing Cassel’s invitation. He always offered her a choice whenever she stood at a crossroads.
“I have to go. I’ll meet him.”
“All right.”
Her resolve was complete.
Passing the room with the grand piano, she entered the reception room where only one man waited.
She recalled the joyful time she had spent there with Raphael and Astain.
Astain’s bright smile after shedding the heavy burden of being crown prince, Raphael’s playful mischief, and Cassel, who had kept watch over the two while pretending not to notice her disastrous performance.
She remembered everything—the patterns on the teacup handles, the taste of the cream-filled desserts.
What did it matter if the time they shared had been short?
Would those brilliant moments return?
They did not have to be exactly the same. If they were even a little similar, she would be content.
‘I…’
At last, she faced him.
The moment Cassel recognized her arrival, he dropped to his knees on the carpeted floor. The impact rang out with a heavy thud.
It was the end of a long wait.
Without anyone’s command, by his own choice, Cassel slowly raised his head. His crimson eyes, burning like a blood-red moon and filled with sorrow, gazed up at her.
Pay did not hastily urge him to stand or offer comforting words as she once would have.
She already knew what he would say.
Through her open ears came the words she had both dreaded and longed to hear.
“Tiana… Tiana?”
Someday this moment would come.
Her foolish family, who had abandoned her and lived happily with the fake daughter, would learn the truth.
Would they regret it then?
Would they hate the years they spent embracing a stranger’s child as their daughter and sister?
Perhaps they had grown so fond of Dot that they would refuse to believe the truth.
They might even push the real her away.
Then everything that had happened since her return from death would lose all meaning, scattering like autumn leaves.
That would be Dot’s perfect victory.
The thought alone was unbearable.
The bleak future she had imagined countless times cracked like a fractured mirror.
The past would not repeat itself.
Her firmly closed lips parted, and a trembling breath escaped into the air.
An aura that made hearts pound like a night of the full moon filled the space around Pay.
At this moment, she felt the wild impulse to let her long hair loose like a madwoman and run somewhere far away.
“Ah…”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
I’m crying.
She had believed she had no tears left to shed.
Even when she maintained a calm face during the day, the tears that soaked her pillow each night at the Magic Tower could have filled an entire lake.
Pay had long struggled with betrayal and disillusionment, and thought she had grown indifferent to the past.
Though terribly late, this precarious moment was not the end.
Upon the withered old tree, a single clear drop of dew fell onto the last remaining leaf.
“Uwaaah…”
“Tiana… I’m sorry…”
Overcome with sorrow, she buried her face in her hands. It felt less like pressing against palms and more like sinking into an endless sea of tears.
Pay stood sobbing, shoulders shaking, while tears of regret and remorse also fell from Cassel’s crimson eyes as he remained kneeling.
The ones who had wronged the least were trembling in pain and weeping.
The person who bore no sin was begging her forgiveness.
Even through her tears, Pay recalled Cassel’s upright heart and forgave him a thousand times over in her mind.
She should speak, tell him she was all right, but all she could do was cry.
It was the first time she had been given the chance to release her sorrow and pain. Brief complaints to Lucia had never been enough.
The emotions she had long held alone now surged up to her throat.
Family…? Was it because she and Cassel—because she and Brother Cassel—shared the same blood that she felt this way?
After crying for some time, she stood unsteadily.
The tears in Cassel’s eyes had stopped, yet he remained kneeling and only reached out his hand.
“…May I help you up?”
“…Yes. Yes. Of course. You may.”
Though still crying, Pay managed to answer in a choked voice.
He hurried to her and embraced her. His hands and arms, warmer than usual, supported her body and gently guided her toward the sofa, as if helping a toddler take its first steps.
The moment she was held in his arms, the painful knot in her chest loosened and vanished.
It was sad—that a day like this had come.
A little joyful—that she had reached this moment.
After weeping her fill, Pay felt both hollow and strangely relieved.
Cassel asked softly.
“If it’s too hard, shall we rest first? We can talk later, slowly.”
He had been waiting since the day he sent his ailing newborn sister to the temple. There was no reason left for him to wait any longer.
“No, I’m all right. But why didn’t you do it?”
“Hmm?”
His voice sounded so close and familiar.
“The paternity test at the Magic Tower. Actually, I haven’t done it either. I only heard it from the criminal’s mouth. I confirmed the circumstances later.”
Cassel answered easily.
“I’m absolutely certain you are Tiana. And your silk robe is now in Mother’s hands. Retrieving it wouldn’t be difficult, but catching the spies inside and outside the mansion comes first.”
“…Yes.”
“You don’t want to gather everyone and reveal who you really are?”
Pay, her tears now dry, repeated what she had told Lucia.
“I have my reasons. Of course I agree with exposing Dot’s mask. Just bringing my silk robe for verification will show she’s fake.”
“……”
“But I don’t want to reveal exactly what happened to me… or the fact that I’m the real daughter of the ducal house, if possible.”
“You’ve been hurt so much.”
Cassel answered exactly as Pay had hoped he would.
He didn’t question why she wasn’t rushing to claim her real family. He didn’t push her to return to the ducal estate or demand she trust him and come home.
He simply tried to understand and help her as she was.
Could she ever meet such a perfect man again?
He gently stroked her light pink hair. At that moment, Pay felt the urge to tell him everything about why her hair had been dyed this color.
“……”
Cassel looked at her reddened eyes and began a new story.
“There are many reasons I started suspecting Dotricia, but the most recent one is that she made a prophecy.”