My Brother Stole My Crown, My Fiancé Stole My Heart Chapter 08

My Brother Stole My Crown, My Fiancé Stole My Heart Chapter 08

The second recording was from the day of my coming-of-age ceremony.

[My coming-of-age ceremony turned into my worst nightmare. Logan and my brother sent me into the Trial Cavern together, but I still can’t bring myself to hate them. I’m so useless.]

The third recording was from the day I left the Trial Cavern.

[Logan. Ryker. You hate me this much, so if I die, you should both be happy, right? I never want to see either of you again.]

When the last recording ended, Ryker collapsed to his knees.

He beat his fist against his chest again and again, breaking apart.

“Wren, I know I was wrong. I know it now,” he sobbed. “I’m sorry. Is that why you wouldn’t come home? Because you hated me that much?”

While he was drowning in his grief, Logan reached out and removed every machine from my body.

A sharp beep sounded.

Then the room fell silent.

Ryker roared at him.

Logan’s eyes were bloodred, but every word came out steady.

“Let her go,” he said. “Don’t trap her here with us anymore.”

He lowered his head, his voice breaking.

“Wren, in the next life, I’ll find you. I’ll make it right.”

My body finally stopped fighting.

Then the voice of the Moon Goddess echoed again.

[The host will now return to the real world. Please prepare yourself.]

I had nothing left to hold on to.

I turned and walked toward the blinding white light.

Logan seemed to sense something. He shot to his feet and ran toward me.

Tears covered his face as he screamed my name, wearing a kind of despair I had never seen on him before.

“Wren, I love you,” he choked out. “I thought you would always be there. I thought I had time to make everything right.”

“I never meant to destroy you. But I did. I hurt you worse than anyone. You must hate me, don’t you?”

“Wren, wherever you go, I’ll find you. I won’t let go again.”

I smiled and closed my eyes.

At last, I heard the words I had once wanted most.

But all I felt was relief.

Love that came too late meant nothing to me.

I had given Ryker and Logan everything I had, and they had not cherished any of it.

Maybe they were the disaster I had been meant to survive.

But Logan, if I could do it all over again, I would never meet you.

I would never love you.

Ryker, I don’t hate you.

But I will never forgive you either.

The memories we shared had become a blade. They wounded me, and now they would wound you too.

Once I left, you would probably spend the rest of your life trapped in guilt.

Then let that be my final punishment for you.

Everything we had was over now.

The seeds they had planted would grow one day, branching deep into their hearts until there was no escape.

A tear slipped down my face.

Ryker seemed to sense my presence. With the last fragile trace of hope, he ran toward me.

His eyes were red, and he looked like a man who had lost the most precious thing in his life.

“Wren, I’m sorry,” he cried. “I failed you. I didn’t protect you.”

A broken wail tore from his throat.

Wren had been the only thing our parents left behind for him. And he had lost her with his own hands.

Ryker had never been this helpless before.

A terrible certainty rose inside him. He was going to lose Wren forever.

I didn’t look back.

Ignoring the voices calling after me, I smiled and ran into the white light.

Logan, there will be no next life for us. We will never meet again.

I’ll start over.

I’ll live well.

As for this place, I’ll treat it as nothing more than a nightmare.

The next time I wake up, every memory of this world will fade.

And I will finally have a new life.