For a long while, there was only silence in the chamber.
It was the kind of silence that sat heavy in the chest and refused to leave.
The golden motes had long faded, but Raven sat there on his bed, staring at Valeria, who lay beside him—peaceful, breathing softly, her features touched by the faint glow of sunset spilling through the window.
Raven brushed a lock of her red hair away, the faintest sigh escaping him.
He knew Catherine wouldn't return.
But still, a part of him—stubborn and irrational—waited.
"Damn it, Mother…" he muttered, his voice hoarse. "You just had to make it hurt more than it already did."
No one would ever know it, as he never told anyone, but he really missed his mother.
After all, he, who had been an orphan in his past life, had always heard a line saying, 'Mother's love is the sweetest thing in the world.'
So, he always wanted to know how it was since he was born, and now, just when he got the taste, it was snatched away from him.
