Chapter 105: Moment Of Truth

Catherine’s hand trembled.

The bracelet… the worthless thing after the promise was broken, the one she herself had thrown into the lake, the worthless reminder of everything she had lost… every humiliation she had faced…

How had it returned?

How was it back on her wrist?

She fumbled with the clasp. She didn’t want it on her.

It wouldn’t open.

Her breath turned shallow as she slipped out of bed and pulled on her robe, her hands still shaking. The world around her dimmed, the weight of memory pressing down… every betrayal, every loss, every humiliation rushing back, dragged to the surface by that single piece of metal.

Maximilian caught her wrist, trying to remove it. “It should be a spell hiding its original form… or—no… is this the spell itself…?” he murmured, thinking aloud.

He couldn’t understand how the bracelet had reached this lifetime.

He had watched her throw it into the lake, the same lake where the vow ribbon had been lost. He had searched for it day and night, not realizing she had already left… to answer another man.

When he finally found it, he had been told she was crowned Queen of Velmont that very day.

He had searched for the symbol of the promise he broke… and lost the person who mattered most.

Her.

He had carried that bracelet all his life after that, to remind himself what mattered. To remind himself of Katerina.

And now it was here again.

The bracelet… a symbol of his shame, guilt, rage, regret… They all surged back, sharp and suffocating.

In this life, he had hunted for it through auctions, private collections—everywhere. He wondered if he could find it. But he couldn’t. He thought it had become dust and ashes, just like…

So… how had it ended up with a street seller?

And who had put magic on it?

“You’re touching it fine now…”

Catherine’s voice snapped him back.

He looked up… and he saw it.

That look.

Doubt.

Accusation.

Fear turning into anger.

“Your hands aren’t burning now,” she said quietly.

She couldn’t understand it. Last night it had been different—green gems, a different design. Now it was the same bracelet. The same one.

How?

Maximilian was the one who bought it. The one who clasped it on her wrist.

“Are you still looking for the seller?” she asked.

He had said he would find her. He hadn’t.

“What about Charlotte?”

He had said Charlotte would come. She never did.

Was any of it real?

Had she trusted him… for nothing? Again, like a fool?

Maximilian saw it all change on her face… shock melting into suspicion, suspicion sharpening into anger.

Something inside him snapped. The hurt in him, the pain he tried to bottle up behind restraint, shot out.

“Why won’t you trust me?” he demanded. “You smile at me, lean on me…My fingers still smell like you!” He held up his hand, voice cracking between fury and hurt.

Catherine scoffed, shame flashing across her face. That was her own weakness; her own lack of restraint.

But still…

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she shot back, her voice trembling, eyes filling. “Isn’t that why you shackled me to you? For my body?”

“There you go!” Maximilian shouted, restraint shattering. “You never think before you blame me—why?”

His voice rose, raw and furious.

“You bowed your head a thousand times to him—even knowing he betrayed you, knowing he would do it again—but you couldn’t wait one day for me? One day!” His voice broke. “I made one mistake—and I’ve been paying for it for two lifetimes! Am I not human? Do I not have feelings?”

The room rang with his voice.

Catherine flinched, stepping back instinctively. No one… no one in either life, had ever raised their voice at her like that.

Her heart dropped, stunned by the force of it.

Before she could even process his words… A sharp cry cut through the room.

The baby, startled by the shouting, woke and began to wail at the top of her lungs.

Maximilian’s hands clenched into fists. He dragged in a breath, shame flooding his face. He took a step toward Catherine…

But she had already turned away.

She lifted the baby from the bassinet, gathering her gently into her arms.

“I’m sorry, little one… I’m sorry we scared you…” she murmured, rocking her softly.

Maximilian stood where he was, head bowed, one hand pressed to his forehead as if he could hold himself together.

The crying slowly softened. After a small bottle, the baby drifted back to sleep.

Catherine tucked her in, pulled the blanket up, and lingered a moment, watching the tiny rise and fall of her chest. Then she wrapped her robe tighter around herself, closed the bedroom door quietly, and walked into the living room.

Maximilian sat on the couch, elbows on his knees, his face buried in his hands.

She paused a few steps away.

She should be shaking.

She should be furious.

She should be afraid.

But she wasn’t.

Instead… she heard his words again in her mind. Every one of them.

He snapped.

And somehow… she understood why.

“I’m sorry for insinuating you did it,” she said quietly.

Her voice was calm, but her chest felt tight. She had accused him without thinking, again. She had been so consumed by her own pain, her own fear, that she forgot…

He had suffered too.

And the only reason he had been so patient… so careful with her…

Was because… she refused to admit it, but it was because he loved her.

Maximilian lifted his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately. “I shouldn’t have shouted. No matter what.”

Silence settled between them—heavy, fragile.

Catherine’s gaze fell to the bracelet.

Her vision blurred.

“I trusted you…” she whispered.

Maximilian’s head snapped up. When he saw her tears, panic flashed across his face. He rose, instinctively reaching for her…

But Catherine stepped back.

He stopped at once, forcing himself to sit again.

She wasn’t afraid of him. Not even for a moment. But she needed space.

“When you said you would marry me…” her voice broke, trembling under the weight of memory. “That night was our first kiss… and the very next day…”

Tears spilled freely now, unstoppable.

“You stamped your seal saying I had let another man into my chambers.”

Maximilian’s face drained of color.

“Katerina, I—”

He stood, desperate, but her words cut through him before he could move closer.

“My mother died,” Catherine said, her voice cracking. “She died in grief. In worry. Because of me.”

Her chest rose sharply with each breath.

“And you caused that.”

The words fell between them like a blade.

The air left his lungs.

“You,” she whispered, shaking now, “the man I loved… you did that to me.”

Maximilian’s hands trembled at his sides.

“How can you expect me to forgive that betrayal?” she asked.

Tears streamed down her face, shining, relentless… each one carrying years of pain she had never truly spoken aloud.

And now, finally…

She did.

“What I did to you was terrible,” Maximilian said, stepping closer. “Asking for forgiveness…”

“You said he stabbed me in the back. How did Dorian do that?” Catherine cut in softly.

She couldn’t bear to hear him apologize again. No apology could touch what had been done.

But Dorian…

There was something wrong with her memories of him. They came in fragments—blurred, incomplete, like a story someone had torn pages out of.

She didn’t know how truthful Maximilian would be.

But she wanted to hear it anyway.

Because she knew herself… if it meant staying away from Maximilian, she would have endured anything Dorian did to her.

She had loved Maximilian that much.

Which meant she had hated him just as deeply.

Maximilian’s gaze dropped. “I never should have sealed that letter,” he said hoarsely. “I never should have lied.”

Catherine swallowed. “Then why did you?”

He lifted his head.

His eyes were red, but steady. There was no evasion left in them; no deflection, no pride.

Only truth.

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