1019 [Bonus chapter] The Content Of The Mysterious Box
Nymia quickly raised her hand and asked Raphael to listen to her and not interrupt her.
"You've changed a lot after you met her. We, your friends, can't help but think that she is a bad influence who has changed you," Nymia said with a serious expression. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks. "I am not trying to do anything with my confession. I just need to get it out of my chest so I can find peace."
She looked down and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Can I hug you just one last time? After today, I will keep my distance from you. I can't deal with this heartbreak... I can't see you again. I feel so jealous and hurt. And it sucks because it's a one-sided feeling..."
Raphael was dazed. He didn't know what to say. Everything happened so unexpectedly. He couldn't blame Nymia for having feelings for him. He remembered his jealousy when he saw Rowena with Julian and he thought she was in love with Julian. So, Raphael could sympathize with Nymia.
He was lucky because eventually, his love was requited, and he got to marry the woman of his dreams. But what about those people who were unlucky and had to bear with the one-sided feelings? It must be really hard.
So, he understood and he sympathized with his old friend. Nymia was one of his longtime friends and they grew up together. They were close enough for him to think of her as a sister. But apparently, she had a different perspective.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about her feelings.
When Nymia came to him and hugged him while crying her heart out, Raphael was too surprised and dazed to push her away. So, he let her give him one last hug. After today, he might not see his friend again.
Rowena was so angry when she saw the scene. Her hand accidentally hit the box on the table when she stepped back to regain her composure.
It fell with a soft thud and the lid suddenly opened. She saw a jade hairpin and a little velvet pouch rolling out from the box. Rowena was surprised to see it and crouched down to take the items.
She was sure she had seen this hairpin somewhere before.
"Ah... isn't that my mother's hairpin?" Rowena muttered to herself.
There was only one painting of her mother ever made and it was hung in the library of the Ashland royal palace. That's how Rowena knew she looked so much like her mother.
When she was fifteen, she was finally allowed more freedom to go around the palace to any place she felt like going. She found the painting in the library and Lady Liz told her it was the late queen.
Rowena liked that painting so much that she sometimes came to the library just to talk to her mother. Being so lonely and having never had a mother figure in her life, Rowena was desperate for anything... anything that could give her a figure of the mother she was missing.
She stopped after several months because she realized she didn't really know the woman in the painting. There was no connection. Over time, when she saw the painting she started to think that she was seeing herself.
She and the woman in the painting looked so alike. Even their cold expression and sad eyes were very similar.
Slowly, she started to hate the painting because she didn't like what she saw. It reminded her of all the sadness and loneliness she had. So, she stopped visiting.
However, Rowena couldn't forget the woman in the painting and she remembered what the woman was wearing. She wore a blue silk dress with very simple ornaments and a beautiful jade hairpin. The jade hairpin looked so much like the hairpin she was holding in her hand now.
"Is this the same hairpin?" Rowena was wondering. If she saw this hairpin anywhere else, perhaps she would think it had nothing to do with her mother. However...
It was found inside a box belonging to her father. So.. Draco Roseland had kept this hairpin with him all this time?
Did he keep it because he loved his wife so much and wanted to have a piece of her after she died? Rowena always thought her father was deeply in love with her mother. Since his wife died when she gave birth to Rowena, Draco Roseland never remarried, even though there were many women who would love to be his wife. He was a hero, a powerful king, and a good father.
The fact that he loved his wife deeply made him all the more attractive in front of those women. Even Lady Liz, a noblewoman decided to take on the job to help raise Rowena as her nanny because she hoped she could maybe get his attention and replace the wife he deeply loved.
Rowena often blamed herself for her father's bad treatment of her. She thought Draco hated her because Rowena was the reason he lost the woman he loved. So, she understood his resentment.
She hated her father, but she understood him. And she couldn't blame him for treating her badly. When he died, she tried to think that everything was resolved between them.
Now, seeing her mother's hairpin 28 years after her death, Rowena felt a deep sadness. She took the hairpin and put it back inside the box.
That's when she saw the velvet pouch on the floor and she took it as well. She was wondering what was inside. Even though initially she wanted to throw away the box, her curiosity won and she finally decided to open it.
"What is this?" Rowena knitted her brows in confusion. The pouch contained a handful of... dust? However, it was not regular dust. It sparkled and when she touched it, it felt really cold on her skin.
Rowena closed the pouch and put it back inside the box. She would ask Raphael about this after she could talk to him. When she put it inside, Rowena felt there was a small book under the lining of the box. So, she took it out.
She opened the first page and realized she was looking at her father's handwriting.
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