Chapter 18: The Life I Chose

After the peace conference ended, I returned to Highmoor with Princess Helena.

The capital disappeared behind us, and with it came a strange sense of relief.

I had thought returning home would reopen old wounds.

Instead, it showed me how completely those wounds had healed.

My mother continued writing to me occasionally.

Our conversations were still awkward, but they were no longer filled with old expectations.

Evelyn also sent me a short letter.

She told me she had decided to devote herself to charitable work and would be spending most of the coming year helping villages affected by border disputes.

I was glad for her.

Not because I wanted her far away from me, but because she had finally found a life that did not revolve around Gavin.

Several months later, Princess Helena announced that the Royal Council had officially approved the permanent Highmoor Peace Administration Office.

My name was written at the top of the appointment list.

Celia Langford.

Director of Historical Mediation and Peace Archives.

I stared at the document for a long time.

The sixteen-year-old girl who had once dreamed only of becoming Gavin's Luna would never have imagined this.

That evening, I walked to the highest point of the Sanctuary.

The mountains stretched endlessly beneath the sunset.

For years, I had believed my life would be decided by someone else.

My family had decided whom I should marry.

Gavin had decided when we would marry.

Evelyn's feelings had decided when I was allowed to be happy.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I had finally made a decision for myself.

I would stay at Highmoor.

I would build the peace administration.

And I would spend the rest of my life becoming someone I could be proud of.

The next morning, a royal messenger arrived with one final letter from the capital.

It was from Gavin.

I opened it without hesitation.

He wrote that he had heard about my appointment.

He congratulated me and told me that he was genuinely proud of what I had accomplished.

Then he wrote something I never expected.

“I used to think losing you was the greatest punishment I could receive.”

“Now I understand that losing you was the consequence of every choice I made.”

“I won't ask you to return.”

“I only hope that wherever your life takes you, you are happy.”

I read the letter twice.

Then I folded it carefully.

I didn't burn it this time.

I placed it in a drawer and closed it.

Some memories didn't need to be destroyed.

They simply needed to stay where they belonged—in the past.

That evening, I received my first official request as the new director.

Two Packs had asked Highmoor to mediate a dispute over shared territory.

I smiled as I picked up the documents.

There was work waiting for me.

A real future.

A life I had chosen myself.

And for the first time, I wasn't waiting for anyone to come back.