Su Li's words landed in the ruined house like a hammer blow, leaving Elena unable to come back to her senses for a long while.
She stood frozen in place, the expensive red hunting outfit hanging loosely from her body.
She wanted neither Gold Coins nor status. She only wanted to take this village girl to see the sea.
Elena stared at Su Li. The man was leaning against the headboard of the broken wooden bed, holding that scrawny village girl in his arms.
That relaxed, open manner was completely different from the dull gourd of her previous life, who had shut himself in the basement of the royal capital every day to forge iron.
Her previous life.
Those two words struck straight at the deepest pain in Elena's heart.
The memories of those forty years surged wildly through her mind like a revolving lantern.
Back then, in the basement of Red Leaf Manor, Su Li had finished forging his last sword, put away that battered iron hammer, and plunged into the heavy snow without looking back.
That night, she had had the chance to follow him.
As long as she nodded, as long as she gave up that damned inheritance of the Iris Family, she could have left with this man.
But she chose to stay.
She had thought she could not let go of power, of that extravagant noble life, of the pomp of twelve knights clearing the way before her.
And what happened?
Old Ford died. She climbed over countless corpses to the position of Grand Duchess and became the most powerful woman in the Empire.
Every day, she slept in a vast velvet bed, ate roasted meat smoked with the finest spices that cost ten Gold Coins a gram, and drank the strongest liquor.
But that