In the end, the misunderstanding was cleared up by Georgia bear hugging Arina. Arina was thoroughly confused. The girl hugging her seemed familiar, but who? From the time Carlisle appeared, she always got this sense of deja vu she had no idea where it came from. She was a bird, she should not have known them. And she did not understand why Carlisle was determined to find her and bring her back. She was merely a bird. A bird that could not fly.
"Is your mind still with me?" Carlisle drawled sarcastically.
Arina was still thinking through all the questions she had. She responded a few seconds after Carlisle called her.
"A textbook respond that you're not listening." Carlisle smiled gently and said, "Very courageous of you."
Arina knew instantly that Carlisle was planning something bad from just the smile on his face.
"No," she quickly refuted. "I just have poor reflex. Didn't you always laugh at me for having poor reflex as a bird?" Her voice trailed off towards the end. "Did you?" She squeezed her eyebrows together, clearly not sure.
Carlisle widened his eyes. Was her memory coming back?
Arina looked around her surrounding since the first time Carlisle brought her here. He had brought her to a lake, a very beautiful and clear lake. A sense of deja vu washed over her again. She turned around to find Carlisle sitting on a bench and looking at her with a half smile on his face.
A scene appeared in her brain. A blue finch. A young man. Red bean cake. The young master toying with the blue finch with an evil smile on his face.
"Are you my master?" Arina asked. "Am I your pet bird? But why did you go all the way to find me? I am just a pet bird, you can simply replace me." There's a wistful and bleak expression of her face. As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart ached again. She knew she had touched on some sort of truth.
Carlisle's hand shook slightly at her words. Those were just the cruel words he had once told Arina. Now they were being thrown back to him. He knew at that instant in his chase of power and revenge, he had crushed Arina's heart with his own hand.Beyond repair. Could he ever be forgiven?
Probably not. Turned out he was not that different from his father after all.
He stood up and pulled Arina into his embrace. Stroking her hair, he whispered into her ear, "I am not your master. I am no longer your master. You're free, Arina."
Tears slid down Arina's face.
Drip. Drop.
She was finally released from her gilded cage.
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Author's note
Last |Present| chapter before the end!!! We're so close to the end!! I hope you like this chapter! Do support this story till the end ;)
Many readers hate Carlisle which is totally understandable. He's definitely not a sweetheart like Lord Valentine. I'm not trying to speak for him but I'll list out some facts. You can actually see Carlisle's struggle last chapter. Carlisle heals Arina before leaving (last chapter). He actually remembers Arina's preferences/things she likes! But in the end he still hurts Arina, no denying it. He's gonna suffer!!! *evil laughter*
Thank you for reading! It hit 13k!!! Let's see if it can hit 20k before epilogue!