Iver was silent for a long while before slowly closing the diary.
Isabel let out a soft sound of surprise. "You... aren't going to read it?"
There was a trace of surprise in her voice, along with a hint of delight—but also some regret.
"I'm not."
Iver turned around and smiled gently. "Because I already understand the root of your fear, and I know where your heart began."
"Is it that you don't want to read it, or... that you don't need to?"
"Neither. I'm just not going to read it this time."
Iver corrected her. "Peeling away the heart you've hidden and learning about your past is different from rummaging through your secrets and prying into your thoughts.
"You wanted me to read your diary only because of your fear and agitation. Your emotions are too complicated right now... and I don't want to take advantage of you when you're vulnerable."
Iver smiled warmly. "I want you to tell me all your secrets wholeheartedly and seriously... Tell me yourself, rather than through this half-true, half-false diary."
At those words, Isabel's cheeks immediately turned red.
As the saying went—who among respectable people wrote diaries?
Could anything written in a diary really count as one's true feelings? Not to mention that the "Du Lac Family Diary" was essentially a collection of wills. Curse Poison could be chronic or acute. In the slowest cases, one might linger for months without dying; in the fastest, there might not even be time for treatment before one suddenly dropped dead.
Under such circumstances, it was extremely difficult to leave behind a stable will. That was why the first Prince had chosen to have everyone else leave diaries. After he died, the others would read them and understand his thoughts, as well as what he wanted