You don’t remember the door closing — only the echo it left behind.

That dull, final thud that sounded a lot like being erased.

They threw you out like you were nothing. A piece of dust that didn’t belong in their world of silk and titles. The air outside the room was colder than it should’ve been, sharp enough to bite through your skin, but you didn’t flinch. You just stood there, staring at the floor, because looking up felt like too much effort.

The marble gleamed — pure, perfect — the kind of beauty that made you feel dirty just for breathing near it. Somewhere, a servant whispered a laugh. You wondered if they knew. If everyone already knew.

You thought he would save you. You believed he would.

After everything.

The years spent following his orders without question. The times you bit your tongue and endured because you trusted him — because you thought Asherad saw you. Not as a servant, not as a tool, but as someone worth standing beside.

You remember the way the Prince of Phindus smiled, soft and cruel.

“The Crown Prince would never save a mere maid,” he’d said.

And the silence that followed was the sound of your heart realizing he was right.

Then came Asherad’s voice — that calm, beautiful voice that once felt like home.

“Please, enjoy to your heart’s content.”

You’d imagined many endings, but not this one.

Not him turning away.

It hurts — but not like a wound, not sharp. It’s emptier than that. Like the world’s gone quiet inside you. You keep waiting to wake up, to find this was all a nightmare, but the cold on your skin tells you it’s real.

Maybe he never saw you at all.

Maybe love was something you built alone and tried to hand to a man who only needed your obedience.

You take a step forward — one, then another.

And though your legs tremble, you don’t stop. Because there’s nothing left behind you anymore, only a memory wearing his face.