Richard's story unfolded like a long exhale he had held for years, a confession threaded with clarity the younger version of him never could have voiced. From the outside, from that high perch of omniscience where truth didn't hide behind fear, everything he once misunderstood about himself and about Ahce lay painfully, beautifully bare.
I thought I could avoid hurting her if I stayed far from her.
Watching her afar was already enough for me.
She is my light, and always will be.
But I was wrong.
He had thought he was protecting her. That was the lie he fed himself while quietly dismantling everything she tried to build with him.
In his mind, distance equaled sacrifice, control, goodness. If he stepped back, she wouldn't have to feel the weight of his doubts, his chaos, the shadows he carried from a past he never learned to confront. He believed leaving her space was the noble thing to do.
