This was the first time Iver had ever seen Isabel cry, with tears streaming down her face.
But there was neither sorrow nor fear in her sobs. Instead, Iver could sense a kind of relief and warmth within them.
The first thing Iver thought of was the diary Isabel had once shown him.
In that diary, where members of the Du Lac family had left behind traces of their lives one after another, the first two sentences Isabel had written at the age of nine were: "I'm so scared..."
"Daddy said I'm allowed to cry..."
Back then, Isabel had been so lonely and frightened, immersed in the fear of death. She had no idea that Queen Sophia most wanted to keep her alive. From Isabel's perspective, that gradually dying relative was like a blade hanging high in the air, ready to fall at any moment.
She simply couldn't smile.
So she could only cry.
Later, even the "Daddy" mentioned in the diary had silently fled Glass Island. Isabel had been left completely alone.
It was like standing on the edge of a cliff with only a single-plank bridge beneath her feet. One glance down into the abyss was enough to make her dizzy and weaken her legs.
Amid the fear that death might come at any moment, even her own father had chosen to leave her. The fact that Isabel had managed to preserve her pure and kind heart without being twisted by fear already meant she had done everything she could.
And the person who had made Isabel no longer afraid, no longer cry, was Iver.
Iver had rescued Isabel from that darkness, helped her put on the crown, and made her the queen of Avalon.
As Queen, she had to give people confidence. The Queen had no right