"I know his family isn't able to get together…" she whispered, voice shaking. "And the only reason they aren't… is because of ME."

"They still don't know he wasn't wrong," she continued, her voice tightening with each word. "They don't know he never did anything. He was innocent. Completely fucking innocent. And until they know that.. until they know the truth.. They will not apologies.. Like how will they ever apologize? How will they ever understand what they did to him?"

"They still think no.. Beleive their punishment was right. They beleive they were protecting me and teaching Razeal. Now when Razeal always rejects them they think he's just being childish, when he isn't.. he never was. His anger toward them is… reasonable. He deserves it. Every bit of it."

"This… is all my mistake," Selena whispered, voice crumbling. "All of it. And regret.. regret is useless now. No amount of regret can change what happened. No amount of regret will undo what he suffered And nor regrets about what is going to happen if i told them everything."

Her tears finally spilled over, tracing thin lines down her cheeks.

"But because of both regrets… the past one and the future regret as what might happen… everything might fall apart. But.. because of this.. the present is being destroyed."

"I can't keep going like this," she said, shaking her head rapidly. "I can't. It can change anything. But maybe everything can change. They'll bring him back… they will. They'll fix things. I know they will... I beleive they will."

Her voice trembled with a desperate kind of hope the kind that only exists in people who have nothing else left.

She looked at Celestia with pleading eyes.

"And you… you too," she whispered, reaching out and gripping Celestia's hands tightly. "Hey, Celestia. You should listen to me. Come with me. Let's admit this together. Maybe it will work if we both do it."

Her voice softened into something fragile.

"You're carrying this guilt too. I know you are. You don't show it on the outside… but I know you better. You changed so much after that day."

Her grip trembled.

"If you want… if you truly want to relieve this heavy burden.. then come with me. Let's admit the truth. To them. To everyone. Not just in private. To the whole world."

Her voice dropped to a whisper, painful and quiet.

"I know once they know what I did… no one will stop them from giving me the punishment I deserve. I'll accept it. I won't resist. And no… millions of lives won't be lost because of me anymore. I won't allow that."

She squeezed Celestia's hands her eyes shining with raw determination and desperation mixed together.

But Celestia only shook her head slowly, her platinum hair swaying.

"No… they will stop you," Celestia said, voice steady but cold. "You think they'll let you confess? You think they'll let you throw yourself into death?" She shook her head again. "You're wrong. They'll jump between you and the consequences. They'll forgive you before you even finish speaking."

Her voice hardened.

"We aren't revealing anything to anyone. Not to his family. Not to the empire. Not to the world. And I definitely won't allow you to do something so reckless."

Selena's face crumpled.

"But"

"No."

Celestia's voice snapped sharply. "No, Selena. I won't. And neither will you."

She ripped her hands away throwing Selena's trembling hands aside with a rare, harsh expression.

Selena froze, shocked by the sudden rejection.

"Why… why not?" she whispered, stepping closer again. Her fingers reached for Celestia's hands once more.

"But why can't you? Why won't you? Why can't you do this for him?"

Celestia's expression darkened something heavy, something sharp flickering behind her eyes.

And then

It broke out of her.

"Because of my dignity!"

Her voice cracked like a whip.

Selena flinched back.

Celestia's chest heaved, her eyes wide, her emotions spilling over.. the first time in years.

"Because if these words get out, everyone will know I lied. I, the imperial princess next in line to the strongest empire in the world, will be branded a liar. I, Celestia Gwon Valentine, a liar? No I won't let that happen."

Her voice trembled with fury, with fear, with something ugly she'd never shown anyone.

"How will I sit on that throne?" Her voice rose, anger flaring as her composure shattered.

"How will I stand in front of the world with my head high, knowing there's filth on my name? On my bloodline? On my title?"

Selena stared at her eyes wide, disbelieving, horrified.

"Dignity…?" Selena whispered, voice hurt and trembling. "What are you talking about, Cels…?"

Her tears shivered at the edge of her lashes.

"You weren't like this," she whispered. "You never.. Hey… hey, calm down. Cels…"

She stepped closer again, reaching out helplessly.

"It's Razeal's life we're talking about."

"You can't… choose dignity over him. You can't. That's.."

"That's not you."

Celestia froze when she saw Selena's expression.

Selena's eyes usually gentle, warm, composed were now trembling violently, burning with betrayal, heartbreak, and a deep grief Celestia had never seen in her. That gaze alone made Celestia's breath hitch.

Her lips trembled.

"I…" Celestia struggled, her voice cracking before it even left her throat. "I'll.. I'll choose dignity."

A thin, trembling line of a tear slipped down the corner of her eye and traced slowly across her cheek.

"M–my dignity… is more important to me than my life…" she said, voice quivering, her hands shaking by her sides.

She forced herself to look back into Selena's eyes trying to stand firm even as her own heart felt like it was collapsing.

Selena's breath stilled.

She stared at Celestia stared deeply, painfully then closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling sharply as if she'd just been stabbed. When she opened them again, her pupils were trembling.

She had never.. never seen Celestia cry.

But she had also never imagined Celestia could say something so cruel. So selfish. So unlike her.

It pierced Selena straight through the heart.

"Choosing dignity over Razeal's life…" Selena whispered, voice hollow. "Ha… I see."

Her lips curled into a bitter, sad smile.

"Don't worry. I won't even tell him about what you said just now," she continued, her voice shaking with both pain and disgust. "Not to protect your dignity.. because honestly, you and I both lost any dignity we had in his eyes already."

Celestia's breath trembled.

Selena's tear-soaked eyes continued staring into hers.

"But if I told him what you just said… it would hurt him," Selena whispered. "You were his fiancée, Celestia. His fiancée.. Literally about to get married to him. Do you even understand what he would think of you? Or worse… what he'd think of himself?"

Her voice cracked.

"How can you…?" Selena whispered, the tears coming again uncontrollably. "Just how can you say something like that?"

Celestia's lips quivered. Her eyes shined with tears she kept forcing back. She looked devastated, but unyielding, refusing to retract her choice or show shame for her decision.

Still, she lifted a trembling hand and reached forward brushing away the tear trailing down Selena's cheek.

Her fingers lingered for a heartbeat.

"Guess… I'm not as strong as I thought," she murmured, staring at the glistening tear on her fingertips. "Rulers don't cry…"

Her voice was hollow.

But Selena didn't soften.

Instead, disgust filled her gaze.

"Don't worry," Selena whispered harshly. "I'll take everything on myself. I'll tell them I lied. I'll say I fabricated everything. I'll say I found a way to bypass your truth eyes."

Celestia's eyes widened.

"You weren't wrong," Selena continued coldly. "I'll say I deceived everyone.. including you. It'll save your dignity. Your Highness The Imperial Princess."

The venom in her tone made Celestia flinch.

"I'll take the whole responsibility myself," Selena whispered, voice cracking again. "I'll accept whatever punishment they give me. Even if they want to kill me, I'll accept it."

She stepped back, wiping her face with trembling fingers.

"You're out of this completely now," she said. "Happy to save your dignity."

She turned away refusing to look at Celestia even once and began walking, disgust written across her entire expression.

Celestia's heart lurched.

In a sudden motion, she grabbed Selena's hand, jerking her back with more force than intended.

"H–hey! Stop! Don't look at me with those eyes," Celestia cried, voice rising desperately. "And stop.. stop talking nonsense!"

Her grip tightened.

"You're emotionally unstable right now! You don't even know what you're saying!" Celestia shouted. "What are you even planning to do? What will you tell them? Why did you even do that back then?! You haven't told ME either!"

She shook Selena slightly.

"Will you calm DOWN!?"

Selena's eyes turned cold.. sharp with anger.

"And I said," she shouted back, "that you don't need to worry about ANYTHING anymore."

Her voice trembled, loud and breaking.

"Your name won't come into it! I swear it as the Saintess if that makes you feel better!"

She yanked her hand, trying to pull away again.

"Now LET ME GO!"

But this time.. this time Celestia did not let go.

Her hand only tightened, almost desperately.

"SELENA!" she yelled. "That's not what I meant!"

She pulled Selena back again, her voice rising in frustration, pain, and rising fear.

"First tell me.. WHY did you do it? Why did you lie back then? What was your reason?! Tell me first THEN I'll decide whether I'll let you go or not!"

She was angry. Deeply hurt. Frustrated beyond measure. Selena's words were slicing into her but she was holding her ground like someone refusing to drown.

Selena's jaw clenched.

Her fists shook at her sides.

And suddenly

"I loved him!!" Selena screamed.

Her voice echoed like a thunderstorm ripping apart the peaceful garden.

"I FUCKING LOVED HIM!"

She violently threw Celestia's hand away ripping herself free and turning to face her with shaking breaths, eyes overflowing with pain and desperation.

Celestia's entire body went still.

Her eyelashes fluttered.

Her mouth parted slightly.

"…You… what?" Celestia whispered, stunned completely thrown off-balance by the confession she never once imagined.

"YES… I LOVED RAZEAL!!" Selena's voice cracked, trembling, exploding with years of buried emotion as she shouted the truth she had swallowed for so long.

Her whole body shook; her fists were clenched tightly against her chest, her breathing uneven, tears spilling without restraint.

"But he was engaged to you…" she continued, voice breaking. "I thought.. I thought if I accused him of trying to rape me… then they would have to break the engagement. They would be forced to cancel it. And then.. then I could convince them… to marry me to him instead…"

Her lips trembled. Words spilled out fast, raw, desperate, like she'd been suffocating under them for years.

"I know it was selfish… I know I was wrong… but you." her voice shook as she pointed at Celestia, her finger trembling, "you never even loved him in the first place! So I thought… I thought it wouldn't be a problem. I thought… maybe I could marry him. Even if it was a terrible way… even if it was the wrong way… I just.. I just loved him that much!!!"

The confession left her like a scream torn from her heart.

It was the first time she had ever said the truth aloud. The weight of it crushed her shoulders as she stood there, crying, chest heaving, her voice trembling.

Celestia stared at her, eyes widening in disbelief.

"You… loved him?" she whispered. "How did I never find out…? Yes, you were close to him, but I never thought that you.."

But before Celestia could gather her thoughts, Selena cut in, her words sharp, vicious, soaked with fury.

"And you!" Selena shouted, "What do you mean 'you loved him'!? You NEVER loved him!"

Her finger jabbed toward Celestia's chest, her eyes blazing with betrayal, anger, heartbreak.

"FUCK love! You never even deserved him!"

Celestia's expression twisted shock flashing into fury at Selena's accusation.

"How dare you say that!" Celestia snapped. "I did love him! Do you think I would feel guilt, regret, shame.. years of it if I didn't?! I liked him! He meant very much to me! I could've done anything for him!"

Her voice rose with emotion she never showed anyone.

"Wait.. no. You know what? Let me think," Celestia snapped, her tone sharpening like a blade. "It was you.. YOU who was jealous. You were jealous of him being with me. That's what all of this was. You wanted him. You wanted everything we had! And look where it brought us. You ruined everything because you wanted what was mine!"

She stepped closer, heat radiating from her anger. "If your love was greater than mine" her voice dropped to a low, shaking whisper laced with contempt "why weren't you the one engaged to him? Why didn't he choose you? Why weren't you promised to him?"

"You weren't. And for the hate of it, for the jealousy choking you, you chose to play dirty. You chose to destroy everything. You chose to ruin him. You were selfish. Because that's exactly what you are a selfish coward!" Celestia had even more poison on her tongue. Of course she would go completely off-topic if Selena dared to claim she never loved him. How could Selena say something like that? How dare she? So Celestia didn't hold back at all.

Selena scoffed. "You loved him?.. What are you talking about?" Selena's voice cracked, but her rage did not soften. Her eyes were swollen and red, fury mixing with heartbreak. "What have you EVER done for him? Tell me. Go on. One thing. One actual thing."

She stepped closer, finger trembling as she pointed directly at Celestia's chest.

"If you loved him, would you have done what you did? Hah? WOULD YOU?"

Her breath came sharp and uneven, chest rising and falling with the force of everything she had been holding inside for years.

"You didn't love him.. you DISLIKED him. You avoided him. You judged him. You looked down on him just because he wasn't able to get stronger."

Celestia opened her mouth but only air escaped, her throat tight.

Selena didn't stop.

She took another step forward this time her words were like knives, each one dipped in the years of guilt and desperation breaking her apart.

"Do I need to remind you of something? Should I remind you of what YOU said that day? How YOU were the first one to call him a liar? How YOU nodded your head against him in the court?"

Celestia flinched a little.

But Selena wouldn't let her look away.

"Why do you think I was so sure my plan would work? Why do you think I dared to accuse him of trying to rape me?"

Her voice cracked raw, remorseful, furious.

"Because I KNEW YOU. I knew exactly how you thought. I knew you were just WAITING waiting for a chance, ANY chance, even a tiny excuse to break your engagement with him."

Celestia's pupils shook violently.

Selena didn't care.

"I knew that the moment I pointed my finger at him, the engagement would shatter. You'd be free. Your little dignity would stay perfect. You'd never have to marry a man who wasn't born strong enough for a princess."

Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't blink them away. She let them fall.

"And guess what… it worked."

Her lips trembled.

"It fucking worked perfectly."

She choked out a shaky breath.

"I was proved right."

"If you really loved him… if you truly did… would it have worked so easily?"

Silence.

The kind that suffocated.

Selena's voice lowered, darker, breaking but firm:

"It worked because you NEVER loved him."

Celestia just stood their listening.. Just silently looking at selena say all that.

Selena's chest heaved as she finished, breath shuddering, eyes burning not saintly, not composed, but devastated and furious.

Her tongue dripped venom not because she wanted to hurt Celestia, but because she was defending Razeal, the man she believed she loved more than anyone else. Even if her love had been twisted, even if her actions were unforgivable, her feelings were real to her. Too real. So real they tore her apart.

The saintess mask was gone.

The holiness

The restraint

Everything gone

What stood there was simply a woman wild with heartbreak, guilt, jealousy, and devotion who had finally snapped after burying everything for far too long.

"You.. You Youu..." Celestia lips trembled.

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Yooo guys, your lovely author here. I just want to give a shoutout to everyone who managed to guess it before I even realized it myself. Seriously, sometimes it feels like you all can read my mind. It's wild. Still, I love seeing how fast some of you catch on. Thanks for sticking around and reading.

And damn... I ended up staying way too late just to finish this chapter. My girlfriend is probably waiting for me and I'm about to get an earful. But hey, anything for you all. Thanks for reading.

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