Chapter 9
Every day, nurses and bodyguards were stationed inside and outside Lumina’s
hospital room, as if they feared she might run off and cause trouble again.
The truth was, she couldn’t even stand on her own two feet.
Floyd had his doubts, but Sean quickly covered for her. “Lumina’s legs have already healed, but she refuses to get up. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Once we send her abroad, she won’t be able to play the victim in front of your anymore. Maybe then she’ll finally stand up.”
Floyd’s face darkened again. “It seems like that month at Mount Gravenwood didn‘ t teach her anything.”
He didn’t understand why Lumina was always so willful, why she had to use her own health as a bargaining chip to
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manipulate him.
Yet, deep down, a secret sense of happiness stirred within him at the thought that Lumina cared so much for him.
At that, Lumina didn’t respond the way he expected–panicked or pleading. Instead, she asked quietly, “How is Grandma?”
“How dare you ask about Grandma?” Floyd’s frustration flared. “If you hadn’t gone behind her back and complained, dragging her all the way here, she never would’ve fainted!”
“It wasn‘ t me.” Lumina softly defended herself.
“What?” Floyd heard her, but he was unwilling to believe it.
Floyd would never believe her, Lumina thought as she closed her eyes again.
Two days later, it was the day she would leave forever. It seemed as if they planned
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to send her away for good, keeping her out. of their lives once and for all.
All of Lumina’s belongings were packed up and sent to the Stuart Family estate–her clothes, her jewelry, but mostly the paintings she had created for Floyd.
When she first arrived at the manor, she was often downcast and lost in thought.
Although Grandma Alice tried to offer comfort, her strength was limited by age and there were times when she simply couldn’t do enough. That’s when Grandma Alice asked Floyd to stay by Lumina’s side.
Floyd would hold her hand as they took walks around the estate. He would take her to watch fireworks light up the sky and whenever she missed her parents, he would gently wipe away her tears, whispering,
“Don’t worry, I’ll always be here with you.”
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It was during these moments that Lumina began to secretly draw Floyd.
She captured him from every angle–the front view, his side profile, his smiling face. Every subtle gesture became etched in her heart and transferred to paper.
On the day of their engagement, Lumina felt truly alive for the first time. It was as though she had finally found someone in the world who would never leave her.
That was why she spent an entire month. working on a painting of herself kissing Floyd. But before she could give him the finished piece, Tracie arrived, stepping off the plane.
It was the first time Floyd had ever let go of her hand. “Moony, be good. I’m just going to pick someone up. I’ll be back soon.”
He never returned that night.
From that moment on, he never called her “Moony” again. Instead, he addressed her not by nickname—“Lumina.”
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Chapter 9
It was during these moments that Lumina began to secretly draw Floyd.
She captured him from every angle–the front view, his side profile, his smiling face. Every subtle gesture became etched in her heart and transferred to paper.
On the day of their engagement, Luminal felt truly alive for the first time. It was as though she had finally found someone in the world who would never leave her.
That was why she spent an entire month working on a painting of herself kissing Floyd. But before she could give him the finished piece, Tracie arrived, stepping off the plane.
It was the first time Floyd had ever let go of her hand. “Moony, be good. I’m just going to pick someone up. I’ll be back soon.”
He never returned that night.
From that moment on, he never called her “Moony” again. Instead, he addressed her not by nickname—“Lumina.”
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Chapter 9
Her painting would never be delivered. But no matter how hard she tried, her heart couldn’t seem to let go.
It wasn’t until she ate the red fruit in the forest that everything truly changed.
A single bite of the poisonous fruit twisted her insides and she knew–she was dying. In her final moments, her past obsessions replayed over and over, until they faded into nothingness.
It was then that she finally gave up.
If she couldn’t have her heart back, then she didn’t want it–just like Floyd, she didn’t need him anymore.
As she hovered on the edge of death, a voice suddenly whispered in her ear. “Do you want to live? I can make you an offer.”
Dazed, she heard herself ask, “What kind of
offer?”
The Spirit of the Forest, with no physical form but a voice full of sorrow, replied, “I
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can use the last of my power to save you. But once you leave this place, your soul will have to enter my body and fulfill the wish I couldn’t complete in life.”
