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Chapter 5: “The Silence That Followed”

The chapter of farewell.

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The orders came at dawn.

The Northern Rebellion had grown stronger—border villages burned, soldiers slaughtered. The king needed results, not negotiations.

And Rikuya? He was the sword they sent when diplomacy failed.

> “Leave before sunrise,” the general said.

“You’ll command the eastern flank. You may be gone for a year. Maybe more.”

Rikuya said nothing.

He just nodded.

He was used to being deployed like a weapon.

But this time… someone would notice his absence.

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Yume.

He found her in the garden again—her favorite spot near the frozen koi pond. The sakura tree was bare now, stripped by winter.

> She turned when she sensed him, a smile blooming like spring.

But it faded when she saw his armor.

“You’re leaving,” she said.

Rikuya paused, unsure of how to say it. Words were always easy when they were cold. But she made them soft. Difficult.

“I don’t know when I’ll return,” he finally said.

She swallowed hard. “Will you write?”

“I’ve never written a letter,” he admitted.

“Then learn,” she whispered, stepping closer. “Because if you don’t, I’ll think you died.”

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They stood inches apart.

But neither moved.

Because they knew… a goodbye would break them.

> “Don’t die,” she said.

“I never do,” he answered.

> “That’s not what I meant.”

He turned to leave, boots crunching the frost beneath him.

She didn’t chase him.

Because real heartbreak doesn’t come with shouting.

It comes in silence.

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Years Later...

The palace had changed.

New nobles rose. Marriages were arranged. Wars came and went.

But Rikuya never returned.

Rumors said he was wounded. That he lived in snow-covered outposts, that he had become a ghost on the battlefield. No letters came.

Yume waited.

And when waiting became unbearable… she stopped speaking his name aloud.

That was when the Crown Prince Auren began visiting her.

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Not out of love.

Out of curiosity.

She was different. Distant. Beautiful and unreachable.

And perhaps, Auren thought, a woman like her would make a suitable queen.

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