"A monarch shouldn't give that much thought to other people's opinions," he answered coldly.
She sighed as she looked to her right.
"How?!" she exclaimed, her eyes watering and her face contorting with distress as she struggled to hold back her tears.
"What they say is right. It reflects the reality I live in, but at the same time, I'm so angry with them. For treating me the way they did. I was so scared of losing my position if they didn't approve of me whenever I failed that they took advantage of the situation to label me as weak and incompetent at everything."
"I'm tired of this position," she whispered, forcing each word past the resistance in her throat.
"I'm dying inside," she added as Rayane stared at her.
"Then what do you want to do?" the royal protector asked.
"I don't know," she replied with a shaky, tearful voice.
"Take a deep breath," he instructed, mimicking the movement with his head.
After a sigh of relief, Eva let a tear fall before releasing a muffled sob. She began to cry slowly, her breathing growing unsteady.
"I'm right here. No one is leaving," he said, looking into her eyes before pulling her into a hug.
Unfortunately, that embrace wasn't enough to relieve her pain, and Rayane knew it.
"Laurent, could you come back?" Rayane asked, closing his eyes.
Within seconds, a light skinned man with black hair appeared from a glowing golden circle, dressed in his worn, military green suit.
He immediately wrapped his beloved in his arms.
"I'm so sorry. I'm tired of myself, too," she whispered, holding him tightly.
"You can't say that."
"I have never been tired of you. We're going to make it, I promise," he added.
At those words, she finally allowed herself to cry her heart out.
With every tear she shed, the venom festering within her heart seemed to drain away, taking a little more of her pain with it.
Unlike the sky, Eva could at least release as much of what she had been carrying inside as she needed to.
With Katherine's help, who returned to fix her makeup, and Rayane's escort, Eva made her way to the ceremony, as tradition required of unmarried women.
At the peak of a mountain stood a majestic temple. Soldiers from the army were stationed along both sides of the stairs as the coffin was carried upward. It remained open, with almost the entire body covered in white silk, leaving only the woman's face exposed.
As the ceremony began, Eva, the only surviving member of the family, stood directly behind the coffin.
Three individuals, two men and a woman, whose features distinguished them from the others, were responsible for carrying it. One of the men was Arnold. Like the others, he wore a formal white uniform.
It took Eva no more than a second to realize that these individuals were protectors from the kingdom's temple and Cinthia's second family.
After all, Cinthia's source of abilities was not bound to her nature.
"What a waste. Nature didn't choose the right positions for the right people," Eva heard someone remark.