"!!!" Nathan widened his eyes in shock. Starting from the attack, he almost caught his breath a few times.
Never in his wildest dreams would he imagine this kind of story coming from them.
Whether it was Evelyn, Bella, Vivian, or Melissa, each of them ended up getting broken in one way or another.
Bella exhaled the smoke while looking at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Evelyn clenched her fists, recalling what happened after that.
2 weeks after their return, Evelyn opened the bar's door, staring at Bella, whose face had lost all will to live. On her left hand was a bottle of alcohol, while her right hand was a long tobacco pipe.
"Bella…" Evelyn's body was shaking.
After hearing everything that day, Evelyn and Bella ran away, so their parents never realized they were still alive.
"Evelyn… No. Don't come!" Bella screamed and ran to the corner of the room, clutching her head while her body shivered.
Evelyn was dumbstruck. Bella had always been helping her this whole time. There was no one she could trust more than Bella.
Bella knew that exact fact. That was why, after realizing everything was actually harming Evelyn, the guilt broke her.
She couldn't forgive herself.
Seeing Bella in such a pitiful state, Evelyn clenched her fists and just hugged her.
"Don't. Don't. Please don't!" Bella cried, struggling in her embrace.
Evelyn refused to let her go, tears streaming down her face. "It's enough. Let's go. Just the two of us. Let's live just for both of us… Take our revenge against the people who attacked us! I need you, Bella."
Evelyn tried to divert her attention from guilt to revenge. At the same time, it felt like these words were comforting her more than Bella.
She didn't know what the purpose of her living in this world was anymore.
Evelyn had a bitter smile on her face. "People still considered us dead since we never came back.
"In the end, Bella accepted my invitation. To avoid anyone from recognizing me, I never got any help from the priest to heal my broken veins.
"Instead, I used the next three months to repair my broken veins. During that time, Bella also took her time to recover from her mental state.
"Of course, returning to the academy wasn't an option either. And that was when the Sleeping Garden formed.
"Though, the real meaning behind that name was Eternal Sleep and Garden. We considered ourselves dead after returning to that garden, thus Sleeping Garden."
Nathan took a deep breath while rubbing his cheek. There was no word coming into his mind.
At the same time, he couldn't help but realize the reason for Evelyn almost accepting all his words.
Evelyn and Bella had lost their purpose to live back then. To distract themselves, they chose to use revenge as their purpose.
Hence, after they accomplished their revenge, they would lose the last purpose in their heart and die mentally.
That was why when Nathan cheekily said to Evelyn that he would become her purpose, Evelyn didn't do anything to him. He personally thought it was excessive, despite being a bit smooth on that part.
It wouldn't be wrong for Evelyn to slap or at least flick his forehead, since that was what she would do to other men. Of course, his uniqueness also helped in that area, but ultimately, it reminded him of the advice of that old man from the sand village.
His luck with women was out of this world. He just said those words for a different intention, but it turned out it was actually matching with Evelyn's situation.
In addition, there was also Flora. He was a bit worried about her learning from Melissa, but she never thought Melissa's former fiance would be the son of a princess of this kingdom.
That experience must be the reason for Melissa not really wanting to have anything to do with the royal family. At the same time, he knew Melissa wouldn't harm Flora.
After all, it could be said that Flora's father, the current king, might actually be the brother of Jay's mother.
The coincidence was so overwhelming that he simply couldn't believe it.
Evelyn observed Nathan's expression before saying, "That's the story. Are you disappointed now that you know the full story?"
Nathan shook his head. "There's something I want to know… if it's not too much to ask."
"It's fine. Ask away. It's already at this point anyway."
"What happened after that incident? Like my teacher and Melissa."
Evelyn thought for a moment while Bella was the one replying this time. "I had introduced myself as a former noble because my house was destroyed, right? That was because the Lavender family chose to destroy them… not that I had any attachment left to that family at that time.
"No. I actually felt relieved when I learned about that." Bella sighed. "As for the world, it was in an uproar. The rising stars died.
"Several people we rescued died as well, leaving only 20 people alive, excluding us. Meanwhile, those people who attacked us disappeared without a trace. We tracked them while getting stronger, gradually recruiting people and turning the Sleeping Garden to what it is now.
"We don't know much about other academies, but the Frexia Academy… The principal chose to take responsibility for this matter and stepped down from his position.
"Vice Principal Leyfon became the new principal and led the Frexia Academy from those dark days.
"He tried to help everyone, but two of the surviving students chose to retire as they didn't want to experience such a thing anymore.
"Principal Leyfon tried to help Vivian and Melissa. He was fortunate to find Vivian still inside the school. I don't know what he said to her, but Vivian, who had been locking herself up in her room for two weeks, ended up coming out and studying harder than ever.
"She gradually rose to a teacher and eventually reached her current position.
"Meanwhile, Melissa dropped out of school. Because of this matter, he was too busy to help her. As such, he couldn't help her much.
"The last thing we heard, Melissa had been drowning herself in alcohol, trying to forget her sorrow. Yet she couldn't move on. Before we could do anything, her life was already in ruin… like what you know right now, her current lifestyle: alcohol, men, and research.
"That's why, please… Don't hate Melissa. She was happy because of love, lived for love, yet was broken because of that very reason."