Chapter 5: The Night of Truth and Goodbye

Until the moment before my death.

I looked into Tunde’s eyes—calm and steady, just like they’d been for decades.

On impulse, I asked:

"Tunde, have you ever, even for one moment, truly loved me?"

Tunde was quiet.

His silence filled the room, thick as the dusk before a thunderstorm. I felt the weight of a lifetime pressing on my chest.

I smiled and closed my eyes.

As I was dying,

It felt like I was back to our wedding night.

Tunde didn’t come back for a long time.

I lifted the bridal veil myself and went all the way to the study, where I found Tunde dead drunk.

He was lying over the desk,

Brows slightly drawn, cheeks red, eyelashes shaking—a rare time he looked weak.

On the desk was a fresh painting: a beauty dozing under the shade of an orange tree in dry season.

The ink was still wet; he’d just finished it.

Even though the painting only showed the beauty’s back,

I recognized her at once.

It was Morayo, the Commissioner’s daughter—the future Queen.

Moonlight poured in through the window, shining on the new painting, every stroke full of longing.

I buried all my feelings.

Quietly, I left the study.

Pretended I was never there, never saw anything.

Back then, I was young and stubborn, never turning back till I hit a wall.

If there was another life,

I’d live differently.

No more obsession, no more reaching for the moon I couldn’t touch.

No more killing myself to please Tunde.

No more trying to win his heart.

Tunde and I—

In the next life, we should never meet again. Let mountains and rivers keep us apart.

If Sango himself calls for a reunion, let me run the other way. May my shadow never mingle with his.