Catherine Ireland—born into House Ireland—was King Jarvan III's wife, the queen of this nation.
And she was also the mother of that hero, Demacia's prince—Jarvan IV.
This short-lived woman died from complications during childbirth, but she left Jarvan III an heir.
As far as people knew, from that point on Jarvan III never took another wife, and he had only that single child, Jarvan IV.
"But even with that vow hanging over me, I still broke it."
Jarvan III's expression carried a faint, painful strain as his sorrowful eyes drifted toward the garden outside, as if he still couldn't accept that both of the women he'd loved had died, one after the other.
He had loved Catherine. After Catherine passed, he truly intended never to marry again, and he believed he would keep that promise for life.
But he was wrong.
Love was like a master key—always able to pry open a heart that had locked itself shut.
"Her appearance was like a gentle breeze that blew straight into my chest," Jarvan III continued, lost in memory. "When that child was three years old, Noxus grew greedy for our frontier. They joined forces with enemies beyond the border and launched an attack on Demacia."
"That year, I had just put an end to the nobles' internal strife when I had to hurriedly don armor once again, leading troops to the border to meet the enemy. That battle was when Xin Zhao and I first met. The story of how sovereign and retainer came to know one another is still praised in folk songs to this day.
"But what people don't know is that during that same time, I also met someone else.
"Your mother… Melli."
As he said it, Jarvan III turned his gaze to Luke.
Hearing Melli's name spoken from the king's own mouth sent Luke's emotions surging all over again.
Before this, he hadn't told anyone the name "Melli."
So it was real?
"She was a medic forcibly conscripted by Noxus. In that battle, the Dauntless Vanguard and I were scattered by the enemy's assault. A handful of my personal guards and I managed to break through, but in the process I was badly injured.
"On the way back, I met her.
"Melli refused to become a pawn for the invaders, so she escaped from Noxus. When I found her, she was crying as she treated a soldier who was on the verge of death. My men took her for an enemy and brought her to me, but in her stubborn eyes I could see the soul of a kind person.
"After that, I kept her with us. Along the road, she cared for me and every wounded soldier with tireless devotion. Day after day, little by little, I realized the heart I'd buried for so long… had begun to loosen again."
After saying so much in one breath, Jarvan III couldn't hide the grief on his face.
Everyone present listened quietly, stunned that such a story had unfolded back then.
"Even now, I still remember her expression when we regrouped with the army and she learned who I was. She looked terrified—like she'd been frightened out of her wits. After that, she didn't dare to see me for a long time. I sealed that loosened heart away again… until one day we met on the battlefield once more.
"She wore armor, clumsy and heavy, weaving through the chaos with a medical kit in hand, saving the wounded without regard for her own safety. An enemy arrow nearly took her life—at the last moment I cut it out of the air. She was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
"And even then, she pulled herself together quickly and returned to her work.
"By then, the battle was already nearing its end. Not long after, we won. Later, I went to find her of my own accord—and at that moment, I had already realized… I had fallen in love with her."
It didn't seem like something he found shameful to admit. Jarvan III said it openly.
He faced the truth of breaking his vow with complete honesty.
"After that, Noxus withdrew. I brought her back to the capital. I wanted to pledge myself to her. I wanted the nation to witness the marriage. I wanted her to become the new queen.
"However, back then, many people opposed it. Almost no one supported me. They didn't want to see their king break the vow he had once sworn. Even more so, they didn't want to trust a woman who wasn't even Demacian.
"Inevitably, both she and I came under tremendous pressure.
"What I regret to this day is that at the time, I failed to realize the pressure she carried was far heavier than mine.
"Not long after, she left behind a letter… and she left me. In it, she said she would leave Demacia and return to the homeland she once knew. I used everything at my disposal to search for her, but it was as if she vanished from my world entirely. For a very long time, I couldn't get a single answer.
"I never gave up looking for her… yet I never heard anything from her again."
When he finished, long tear tracks ran down Jarvan III's face. In his entire life, he had loved only two women—and in his heart, both had been flawless.
Yet as a king, he hadn't been able to give either of them a happy life.
It was as if, from the very beginning, his love had been destined to end in tragedy.
"That's… so moving…" Lux murmured, eyes reddened.
She had gotten the earthshaking scoop she wanted, but the aftertaste hit hard. In her head, she'd already spun out a romance epic hundreds of thousands of words long.
Melli had to be the kind of woman worth breaking a vow for—but judging by how things ended, the two of them ultimately still hadn't made it to the end together.
After hearing the story, Lev didn't know what to say for a moment.
As for Tianna and Roy, the two of them could confirm it was true—because they had been there back then.
Calvin was completely stunned. As one of Jarvan III's personal guards, being able to hear this kind of secret firsthand really was a kind of "good fortune."
And then, all of a sudden, he remembered something.
He glanced at Luke, who was standing there in a daze, and there was only one thought in his head that he didn't know whether he should say out loud:
Just what kind of absurd luck did this guy have… to turn out to be the king's illegitimate son?
The moment he thought about the attitude he'd shown Luke earlier, Calvin felt awful.
Luke himself was also a little lost. At first, he'd only assumed Melli was some noble lady who had run away with a lover.
He never expected it to be this.
His mother… had actually shared a tangled love story with Demacia's king.
Jarvan III walked toward Luke and asked softly, his hand reaching out, "How old are you?"
"Eighteen," Luke answered.
This time, Luke didn't dodge. He let Jarvan III's hands rest on his shoulders—those hands trembling slightly.
"Already… this grown," Jarvan III murmured, tears welling again. "That means the year she left me, she was already pregnant. All these years… how did she live? How did she endure it?"
In a land where she had no roots and no familiarity, raising newborn Luke alone—just imagining it made Jarvan III feel the weight of that hardship.
Luke didn't actually know much about Melli's past, but that didn't stop him from giving this story a moving continuation.
He lowered his head slightly, steadying his voice as much as he could before speaking.