?Chapter 1359:


    Dn spoke gently. “That’s not true. She’d want you to live a good life. That’s not betrayal… Maybe, somehow, she’s still watching over you, waiting to be with you again.”


    Dn knew that without hope, people broke apart easily. He wanted to give Christina something to hold on to.


    Christina’s voice trembled as she spoke. “After that, I tried to live with that thought. I buried all my guilt and regret deep inside. I thought I had moved on… but recently, it all came back at once, like a box I’d kept shut suddenly bursting open. That’s when I realized—I never really forgot.”


    Christina had never uttered Joelle’s name to anyone—not even to Davina.


    The mere thought of speaking about her was enough to stir emotions she had long buried, threatening to sweep her away in a tide of grief.


    This was the first time she had ever mentioned Joelle aloud, the first time she had dared to face the wound that had never truly healed.


    It was a knot in her heart—tight, stubborn, and aching to be undone.


    “Go on, cry,” Dn whispered, his tone gentle, like a breeze brushing over broken ss. “You’ll feel better after letting it out.”


    He wished he had met Christina earlier—before the years had carved such deep sorrow into her. If fate had allowed it, perhaps he could have stood by her side back then, shielding her from the harsh winds that had carried her away.


    Dn gathered her into his arms, his palm moving slowly against her back, steady and reassuring.


    Behind her graceful smile, he could sense the pain she kept carefully tucked away—a storm sealed behind closed doors.


    With no one to lean on, she had learned to silence her tears, burying her heartache beneathyers of poise and pretense. It must have been an agony that ate away at her soul.


    When atst her tears ebbed and her breathing steadied, Dn spoke softly, “Is Joelle’s grave here in the country?”


    “Yes,” Christina murmured, her swollen eyes glistening under the faint light. Her voice trembled, hoarse and fragile. “I brought her ashes back and buried them in a cemetery in Kitaso, but I…”


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    Her words fractured under the weight of guilt. “But I can’t bring myself to visit her. I’m afraid… Does that make me a coward?”


    Since Joelle’s burial, she had never set foot near that ce again.


    She wasn’t running from the grave—she was running from the tide of emotions waiting to pull her under. Facing that pain felt like walking into the eye of a storm she might never escape.


    As long as Joelle remained gone, the guilt gnawed at her—a shadow that refused to lift.


    She would live carrying that invisible burden, forever haunted by the past.


    “No,” Dn said quietly, his voice steady as the earth. “You’re not a coward, Christina. You’re brave—braver than anyone I’ve ever known.”


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