Sword Empress's POV
'…What do I even want?'
Every time I resolved to find that boy and apologize, I found myself denying the possibility that someone else might be him. To think that even at this level, I still couldn't fully grasp my own heart.
'…Maybe it's because so much time has passed.'
It's been ten years. A span long enough that it's more likely he couldn't endure the harshness of the world and lost his life. Honestly, even if I found him now, I wouldn't know what to say. I kept telling myself I'd apologize, but I couldn't clearly say how I'd make up for his ruined life and lost time. With each passing year, the words I'd prepared lost their meaning.
For a boy not yet of age back then, ten years was a precious time—too valuable to casually claim I could compensate for. It was the golden period of his life, and I'd ruined it because of my own fault.
