Chapter 2: Three Years in Highmoor

“Celia, have you really thought this through?”

My grandmother, Eleanor, set the application form on the table and looked at me seriously.

“Once you enter the Highmoor Royal Sanctuary with Princess Helena, you’ll have to complete the full three-year service term. Unless there’s an emergency, you won’t be allowed to leave the Sanctuary, much less return to the capital to see your family.”

I nodded.

“Grandmother, I’ve thought it through.”

Gavin said he wanted to postpone the wedding, but he hadn’t given a new date. Maybe it would be another three years. Maybe there would never be a next time.

A woman whose fiancé had canceled their wedding three times—without even checking my phone, I could imagine the gossip lighting up the Crown Pack’s social channels.

I would rather go to Highmoor than stay in the capital and endure their mockery. At least there, I could work on Princess Helena’s public service project and have three years of peace.

Grandmother sighed.

“I heard Gavin postponed the wedding again. I can go see Patricia myself and demand that the Mercer family give you a clear answer.”

I hurried to stop her.

I knew if Grandmother stepped in, Patricia, for the sake of the Mercer family’s reputation, would force Gavin to marry me as planned.

But if I used pressure to drag him to the altar, he would only hate me.

I’d rather work in Highmoor than be trapped in a resentful marriage.

The Sanctuary was located in the mountains of the Pinehaven Pack. Winters there were long, and life was simple. Volunteers had to organize peace archives, assist with relief projects, and attend the annual vigil led by Princess Helena. Not many young people were willing to spend three years of their life there.

A week later, I received an encrypted email from the Royal Castle.

My full name was on the list:

Celia Langford.

I had been chosen.

After confirming my travel arrangements, I stayed in my room every day, reading everything I could about Highmoor. For an entire month, I didn’t contact Gavin once.

Perhaps he’d finally managed to soothe Evelyn, because he eventually remembered I existed.

One afternoon, he came to the house carrying the lemon cake I used to love.

He set the cake on the table, a trace of grievance in his tone.

“Celia, why haven’t you come to see me lately?”

Only then did I realize we hadn’t seen each other in a month.

Before, a single day without seeing him would have made me anxious. Now, looking back, it seemed we could both live perfectly fine without the other.

I glanced at him, then quickly looked away.

“Weren’t you the one who told me not to come looking for you anymore?”

Gavin froze.

A few seconds later, he finally remembered what he had said.

The day after the family dinner, I still hadn’t been willing to accept his decision, so I had gone to find him at Golden Plaza in the city center.

He was shopping for jewelry with Evelyn at the time.

When he saw me, he didn’t look happy to see me—just irritated at the interruption.

“Celia, if it’s not important, stop coming to find me all the time. You’re being annoying.”

For the first time after hearing those words, I hadn’t chased after him to explain myself.

Now, Gavin’s expression turned ugly. He seemed to finally realize how much his words had hurt.

But he quickly recovered his composure.

He probably thought I would forgive him as easily as always. That all it would take was a few gentle words to put me back in my place.

“I was just upset that day. I didn’t mean you were annoying.”

“When Evelyn’s condition settles, I’ll give you the grandest wedding imaginable.”

I looked down at the Highmoor service handbook in my hands.

What if her condition never settled?

Was I supposed to wait forever?

In the end, I just made a noncommittal sound, leaving the question unspoken.