Chapter 10

“Don’t go, Ian!” Vanessa’s sudden scream cut through the banquet hall.

Desperate to stop Ian, she staggered and crashed into the carved table corner.

Blood gushed from the wound on her forehead. Shards of porcelain dug into her palms, yet she stubbornly reached toward Ian..

The crowd instinctively stepped back.

The only sound that could be heard was that of blood dripping onto the floor. When Ian turned around, his gaze locked onto Vanessa’s bloodshot eyes.

Those ever cheerful-looking eyes were now brimming with tears.

Her eyelashes were clumped together with sticky blood, and her pale lips kept whispering broken pleas.

“Tan, don’t leave me. You’re all I have. I’ll do anything if you just come back.” Seeing Vanessa in this state, Ryan couldn’t help but shed tears.

“Her medicine is still in my bag. The doctor said if she gets agitated again-”

“Sorry.” Ian hesitated for a moment.

But in the end, he turned away and left the banquet hall.

A suffocating sense of dread gnawed at him, pushing aside everything else in his mind.

He had to find Selena.

He had to explain everything to her.

“Selena, where are you?” He shoved the wooden door open and burst into the attic. The lingering scent of candles still carried traces of warmth and filled his nostrils.

However, the room was empty.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a glow over a gift box sitting on the desk.

A note lay with a corner underneath the box, the ink still damp.

“From now on, our paths will never cross again. Ian, this is goodbye, forever.” A deafening roar exploded in Ian’s mind.

The world before him spun and twisted, and he nearly collapsed.

His breath came in short, uneven gasps.

He shook his —- head in disbelief and muttered to himself, “Impossible. You’re just trying to scare me, aren’t you?”

Where could Selena go? She had nowhere to go.

Ever since she lost her mother, she had been a girl with no one who loved her.

He was the one who had made her laugh and wiped away her tears. It was with him that she planted an entire garden of peach blossoms.

Every beautiful memory she had and every moment of happiness was spent with him.

How could she be cruel enough to disappear from his world forever? A sudden thought struck Ian, and he stumbled out of the attic, running toward a peach tree in the courtyard.

He remembered it clearly.

When they planted the peach blossoms, he and Selena had buried a time capsule here.

She had written a letter to her future self, saying that Ian was the boy she would cherish for the rest of her life.

She had promised that when she grew up, she would be his bride.

She had woven a ring from a peach blossom stem, saying that one day, she would have Ian personally place it on her finger.