The Cursed Prince

1005 It’s Time To Say Goodbye

Rowena didn’t even realize she nodded. How could she not? After what Raphael did for her, it would be mean of her to say no. Rowena was not ungrateful.

“I do...” she whispered her response that was immediately rewarded by Raphael with a hug and sweet kiss.

“That’s all I need to hear,” the man said happily. He tightened his hug on Rowena after he ended their kiss. “I will brave anything if you are by my side. I only need you to say yes, and we will be together.”

Rowena smiled and took the vial from Raphael’s hand.

“I do,” she repeated her words. Raphael watched happily as Rowena drink the potion. He was glad he followed his instinct to see her and now he finally had her back.

Now... it was only a matter of picking up where they left off.

Rowena furrowed her brows once she swallowed the whole potion. She felt something warm creeping inside her body and spread slowly throughout her whole being. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one that she didn’t dislike. It was as if her body had become as light as a feather and her senses were now at least twice sharper than before.

“My senses are heightened,” she muttered. “Is that supposed to happen?”

Raphael chuckled. “I am not sure. I was born immortal and never have to take such a potion. I also never met anyone who did. I guess, as long as you feel good, then it’s fine.”

.....

“I feel fine,” Rowena nodded.

“Then, I am happy to hear that.” Raphael took a deep breath. He took the vial from Rowena and put it on the stone slab beside him. When doing so, he saw Julian’s body and he remembered the reason why Rowena came here was that she wanted to give her best friend a proper burial.

Rowena followed his line of sight and thought about the same thing. There was something that she still had to do. Now that Raphael was here, maybe she could ask for his help.

“Raphael,” she tugged his sleeve and looked at him pleadingly. “I want Julian to rest in peace. Will you help me carry him out of here? I mean... if you don’t mind.”

She initially wanted to ask Knight Jarvis for help but since she had Raphael around, it was better not to trouble Knight Jarvis.

“Of course,” Raphael nodded. He looked at Julian and then turned to Rowena again. Something came to his mind. He asked her. “Where do you want to bury him? The valley?”

He loved that valley because it was Rowena’s favorite place in the whole world. After spending three months there with her, he could actually see himself staying there with her after they got married and he left Cretea for her.

Since he had committed a crime by stealing the immortality potion, Raphael was prepared for the worst possible scenario, which was death. However, since he was the king’s son, he expected to get some sort of leniency, Maybe he would be banished from Cretea.

If that happened, he would happily live with her in her valley. However, if they buried Julian there, he would always be reminded of Rowena’s friendship with the man and how much he was feeling jealous of their closeness.

Even though he had a good heart, and he loved Rowena, Raphael was just a young man in love who could feel jealous. That was probably his weakness that he was trying hard to overcome, but couldn’t yet. Especially when he remembered how Draco Roseland insisted that the man Rowena loved was actually Julian.

“Yes, the valley, I want to move there and bring him with me,” Rowena replied. She sighed dejectedly. “It’s actually really nice to see him here. He looks like he is sleeping.”

“I am sleeping, what do you mean?” Julian’s voice suddenly rang from behind her, startling Rowena. “Hi, Rowena.”

‘Julian.’ She felt her throat parched all of a sudden. Rowena turned around and found her friend standing by the wall.

Julian smiled faintly.

“I actually like it here.” He took a deep breath and said, “Can you ask him to keep me here? He has ice magic... I don’t want to be buried underground and become food for worms.”

He added, “You can also see me again, whenever you miss me.”

Rowena held her breath. She turned to Raphael who looked at her questioningly. He was surprised to see Rowena look like she heard something but he couldn’t hear it. He remembered earlier he found Rowena was talking to someone but there was nobody in this cave but her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her. Rowena bit her lip. Should she tell Raphael that she was seeing things?

“I...” she lowered her head. She whispered, “I have gone crazy. I see Julian everywhere. He is here....”

Rowena decided to be honest with him.

“How did you see him?” Raphael cast his glance around them. He only saw Julian’s body to their right, but Rowena was obviously looking at something to their left. He tugged her chin to look at him. “Did he say something?”

Rowena nodded. “Yes.”

“Can you tell me what it is?”

Rowena sighed. “He said he doesn’t want to be buried. He asked if you can use your ice magic to keep him here.”

Raphael looked at Rowena with a complicated expression. He just realized that, deep inside, Rowena was not yet willing to part with Julian. She wanted to see him again.

That’s why, when Rowena realized she had Raphael, the ice prince, with her, her heart wished she could keep Julian frozen like this forever so she could always see him whenever she missed him.

If Julian was buried, she would really have to say goodbye to him and she could never see him again. It was not Julian who asked Raphael to use his ice magic, but Rowena. She just didn’t realize it.

Raphael felt his heart burn with jealousy. Why couldn’t Rowena let go? It’s been a long time and Julian was dead. She should have let go.

“Very well.” Despite his jealousy, Raphael nodded. He raised his hand and Rowena could see a faint blue light emitted from his palm. He waved his hand a little bit and suddenly, the temperature dropped so low, even colder than before.

He turned to Rowena and said, “This cave is now covered with eternal snow. It will be too cold for any human to enter, but you can always come here and see him whenever you’d like.”

Julian was smiling when he saw what Raphael did. He walked closer to Rowena and stopped right before her. He looked at her with gleaming eyes and then touched her cheek with his right hand.

“Rowena, you have found yourself such a good man,” Julian spoke with a hoarse voice. “I was only testing him, but he did it anyway. I didn’t expect that.”

Rowena looked at ‘Julian’ and cried. “Julian...”

“It’s time to say goodbye, Rowena,” Julian added. “Please, be happy. I’m rooting for you.”

He kissed her cheek gently and smiled, and then slowly his image disappeared like a faint smoke. Rowena was dazed. She didn’t know whether what she saw was just her imagination, or if Julian’s ghost had been seeing her and now he was finally gone.

But deep in her heart, she could feel that Julian was now truly gone.