At Drevolre Manor, on the night of October 4th, 1911,

"Why... Why would you do this?" Thena stands before me, her face dampened with tears. My younger sister cannot believe that her older sister, whom she always respected, would now become so dishonorable. My mother, Diana, and David also cannot fathom my sudden decision. I sit in the middle of the room, and everyone around me stares at me with astonishment. Returning to the house where we were born and raised, but why does it feel so unfamiliar today? The house is still grand and magnificent, but deep within it is filled with a somber and silent atmosphere. My tongue stiffens like stone, and my words are buried deep within the earth. I only know how to bow my head and say nothing. Tomorrow, Augustin will escort me to London, and then I can consider myself truly dead.

"Do you really crave wealth so much? Is this life not enough for you?" Thena continuously questions me. In her hand, she holds the manuscripts she wrote before. I clasp my fingers tightly together and calmly say, "When you see what I see, you will act as I do."

"Stop making excuses, Fiona!" Thena shouts. "Even if you can regain the estate, is it worth what you had to give up?"

"One day you will thank me for this..." I resist. I never thought I would live long enough to see that day.

"I will never thank you!" Thena's emotions erupt like a hellfire, burning my soul. She does not say anything more, but immediately throws the pile of manuscripts into the blazing fireplace. It was the girl's heart, one of the novels she was about to complete. Why does my heart ache so much when I see the book being eaten by flames? Thena now hates me like an enemy. She wipes away her tears with her hand and points to something she once treasured. She looks at me with hostility and a cold, sharp voice like a knife piercing my broken heart resounds:

"I wrote it for you and Enzo, but now it seems it doesn't matter anymore. I'd rather go to the ends of the earth, sleep under the bridge, than have to see your face."

As she finishes speaking, Thena turns and leaves with her luggage. I stand up and call out to Thena, but she does not bother to turn back. It is only now that I begin to panic. I never anticipated any of this. When I turn around, Mother, David and Diana are also leaving. David passes by me without a glance. I grab his arm and beg desperately:

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"Don't go, David..."

"I have to return to Lady Daphne...", he chuckles reluctantly. "I still have to take care of her garden."

"You don't have to work anymore, David. We already have..."

"Belongs to you, Fiona, these things belong to you," David jerks my hand away. "I have to go."

Another person leaves me, and I am gradually losing everything I have left. Mother and Diana then follow David. I plead:

"Please stay, Mother. If not for me, then for your health..."

But my mother does not bother to answer. She just silently takes Diana's hand and leaves. As she passes me, Diana quietly whispers in my ear:

"When things settle down, we will come back..."

Diana does not stay long and escorts my mother back to the house by the river. Now, I am alone facing the grand castle. The people I cherish have all decided to leave me. It is the heaviest and most painful punishment that one can imagine. The crackling sound from the fireplace wakes me up. I kneel down, looking at the book soaked in the red flames. The thick cover has helped it survive longer against the gnawing whispers of fire. I hastily use my bare hands to take it out before it becomes nothing but ashes. My skin is blistered and red, but my heart is in pain for a different reason.

My tears slide down my cheeks as I gaze upon the words of the title on the first page. "Dedicated to Fiona and Enzo," Thena has yet to write the ending and the name of the novel, but I know it will be a happy ending. It will be about me and him at fifty years old, with grown children. It will write about him carrying me on his bicycle, riding along dusty roads. Thena will write about the best things between us. But the ink has not yet dried, the period has not yet been placed, and my own hand has destroyed it all.

The sound of my weeping echoes throughout the grand castle. I have traded everything - love, sincerity, and faith - only to regain something that is already dead.