"How can those people treat you like that? I feel like I want to kill all of them!" Elara heard Lily say, her voice trembling with barely restrained fury.
The words came right after Elara had finished telling her everything, how the emperor had taken advantage of her, how she'd been forced to live in the shadows, hiding from the king's eyes to protect what little life she still had.
Elara let out a faint sigh, the corners of her lips curling into a soft, tired smile. "It's okay, Lily, all of it has passed already. I don't want to trade the little peace I have for revenge," she said gently, her voice carrying that quiet strength that came only from years of surviving pain. "Now I am living as a respected member of the workforce. I just have to take care of those beautiful plants. Life is beautiful now… I don't want anything more."
Her resolve was unshakable, the kind that came from someone who had lost too much to ever gamble peace for chaos again.
