Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 118: We Forgive And We Forget

Chapter 118: We Forgive And We Forget

"They had to?! They don’t have to do anything! They choose to be with the king for their own benefit and greed! They know the king is cursed and yet they long for that fleeting moment of glory they get from being called the queen! It’s all on them! It’s their fault too! The king can choose to die alone!"

Yuraon’s tone acquired a new tone of anger, his body tensing, and his hand trickling with more blood as he tightened his fist.

"This is no longer true! Many years have passed and now the king marries for love in Davoor! The king can choose to die alone but what if the one he loves doesn’t want him to?! And your centuries-old anger kills both of them! Two people in love who chose to die together because of something they never did!"

The newly-created tension in the room was now ignitable. Unwilling to let the matter escalate even more, Aideen stepped in, placed her hand on the young man’s arm, prompting him to subdue his fuming anger, and said quietly,

"Please, Your Majesty, we should not scream at one another. This will not help us solve anything."

The princess’s words made Ylva get hold of her own feelings too, her orange eyes now fixed on the floor, her face marred with sadness and regret.

The room was filled with silence again, only Yuraon’s heavy breathing could reach the ears of those present.

Choosing her words carefully, Aideen took a deep breath before addressing the witch one more time,

"Lady Ylva... What King Finnur did to you deserved your wrath. No one should ever be used, abused, and then abandoned, having to search for the will to live with a gaping hole in their chest. It is the most heartless thing one person can do to another, I know that."

"You do?" The witch’s voice turned loud again, "Do you really? Do you really know what it feels like when the man you love with all your heart tosses you out like a rotten fruit that no longer bears any juice? Do you really know all about the agony of a broken heart that can never be healed? The witch’s love is just like her curse –– eternal, irrevocable. Her broken heart never heals. Even in death... she finds no peace."

Her words were laced with a heavy burden of pain neither of them could stand.

Ylva was right, the princess did not know.

She had never known love before but now, she wanted to believe that she did. Just like the fire witch, Aideen loved Tillian with all her heart and was ready to sacrifice everything she had for him regardless of the consequences, but if he did the same to her as King Finnur did to Ylva, she, too, would be devastated and heartbroken, with absolutely nothing to live for.

With teary eyes, the princess turned her gaze to the witch, her voice trembling with emotion as she spoke in a near-whisper,

"Lady Ylva... I am truly sorry for the terrible fate that befell you. I am truly sorry that your heart was led astray by the wrong person. But I refuse to believe that your heart is incapable of healing. It can, and it will. Perhaps, what denies you peace is not just the wounds of the past, but the lingering specter of irreparable damage haunting the present."

She paused, her eyes desperately looking for a glimmer of hope imprinted on Ylva’s face but the woman remained undeterred. With a heavy exhale, Aideen pleaded,

"Your heart may be scarred, but it still beats with compassion, I know it! You could love, you have loved and it brought you happiness when it lasted! You had your revenge but the death of those who have never wronged you will never bring the relief you need. Help us, not out of duty, but out of the shared desire to heal. I’m begging you. Please."

The fire witch stood before the princess, then moved her big eyes to the beautiful ring on her finger, carefully took Aideen’s hand in hers, and said as if she were talking to herself,

"Beautiful words, beautiful mind, beautiful heart. Beautiful woman. A unique declaration of love adorning your finger... His love must be as deep as the ocean. Or at least that’s what he wants you to believe."

She then fixed her eyes on Aideen’s, continuing, now in a colder voice,

"Does he want to be the King too?"

Ylva’s words made the princess flinch as she felt that she could see right through her and before she could understand what she was doing, her head was already agreeing with an involuntary nod.

The witch smirked again.

"The Kings... Greedy for control and power... The power that belongs to others, yet the power they can control. With emotions. With emotions of young and naive women like us."

Sliding her fingers over the snowflake-shaped diamond, she continued,

"What makes you think the one who tied you up like this, will not betray you too? It will be the most cruel betrayal, young lady. It is truly the worst kind of torture –– to let you get used to their kind of love, addicted even, and then toss you out; abandon you, leaving you starving for affection that was never yours in the first place."

A thick dry lump formed inside Aideen’s throat upon hearing those words.

Ylva was not wrong, again. She was used to Tillian’s love. She was addicted. But Tillian was not Finnur. Tillian was not anyone else, too.

Yes, he was the one who gave her her new, magical life, and although he was also the one holding the power to rid her of it, the princess was certain that he would never do that.

Thus, shaking her head against the witch’s cold remark, she answered,

"It is your sour heart that speaks to you, Lady Ylva, stripping you of a chance to feel like yourself again. I, too, was broken many times before, but I allowed myself to heal without letting my heart rot under the heavy weight of anger.

My husband may not love me the way I love him, but even so, he will never hurt me. Not every King is heartless, and not everyone who wants to be the King wants to sell their heart as well. We live and we learn. We love and we let go. We forgive and we forget.

So please, allow your heart to let go. Let your heart forget, too. Forgive."