Chapter 7

Chloe pov

It wasn't until midnight that I dragged my weary body back home. I turned on the light, and my phone buzzed. It was a picture from Seraphina. The photo showed Julian intently applying an ice pack to her wrist. The caption read:

"He said my hands are for painting and shouldn't be harmed. He also said our wedding is set for the Maldives; that starry sky is a dream we shared since childhood."

"Oh, and thank you, truly. If it weren't for you, Julian's leg wouldn't have healed. Thank you for taking care of my husband for five whole years."

I looked at her arrogant taunts, too exhausted to even feel angry. I went back to my bedroom and lay down, falling into a deep sleep.

Julian still didn't return that night, only sending a message.

【Chloe, I'm tied up. Is your injury serious? If it hurts, tell me, and I'll come back immediately.】

I replied after a long pause.

【No need.】

Julian, from now on, I no longer need you.

After the bleeding from my shoulder wound stopped, I took a day off specifically to drive to the secluded estate. I didn't go into the house but instead went to the small observatory in the backyard. That was something Julian and I built together, piece by piece, from discarded parts when his leg injury was at its worst.

At the center of the observatory was a planetarium we had handcrafted and polished. I turned on the power, and the ceiling immediately projected a dazzling galaxy of stars. Among them were two of the brightest constellations, which we had each designed. I clicked on the one I designed, and the note beneath the star map, written in my own hand, appeared:

"May Julian soar again, like Aquila the Eagle." My every wish had been for him.

The next second, I clicked on the constellation he had designed. A line of elegant handwriting popped up:

"To Seraphina the Princess, my love, forever."

Seraphina. It was Seraphina again.

It turned out that every single thing he had ever done for me, his heart had always been thinking of someone else. I deleted the star map I had designed, then removed the necklace from my neck. It was a small meteorite, a gift Julian bought me with his first earnings after rejoining the Harrington family. He once held me and said:

"Chloe, they say the more powerful you become, the lonelier you get, but as long as I have you, I have the courage to reach the top. Everything I possess from now on, including myself, is yours."

I buried this star, along with everything related to our past, beneath the observatory.