“I’m not sure… when I came here… it was all too much. But now it almost feels like peace. This place… it’s just as enchanting. And somehow, I don’t feel like a stranger in it.”
“You’ve never been a stranger here, Gwendolyn,” I stated, stroking my thumb over her lower lip. “Can you remember what I told you when you asked for the reason why you came here?”
She glanced at me, almost startled by the certainty in my voice.
“You belong here more than most of us, even more than me,” I declared, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “I said some people find their way and don’t recognize it.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, as if she remembered the words. “Yes, and you still haven’t told me what it meant, right?”
I leaned closer, resting my forehead against hers. “Because your heart will find out on its own, my love. You don’t have to choose right now. Just stay here. Don’t question everything too much. Let this place be your home, even if you’re still figuring everything out. This place is yours, just as it is mine.”
My love didn’t answer right away. But her fingers found mine and we laced them together.
She tilted her head, curiosity softening her expression. “What do you mean the place here belongs to me as well?”
“Everything you see here Gwendolyn… the castle, the library, the garden… was created with you in mind.”
“What?” she asked, her beautiful lips slightly parted.
“It’s going to sound strange to you…” I said, hesitating whether to confide in her or not. But her favorite story was all about strange things, after all.
“Tell me…” Gwendolyn said with a pleading tone, only making me want to open up to her even more.
I exhaled slowly. “I was a child once too,” I began, my gaze drifting past her for a moment before finding her eyes again. “And even then, I dreamed of this place. Not exactly how it is now, but the feeling of it. A sanctuary. A hidden world, away from everything cold and cruel. I used to think it was just a place of escape, a refuge for a lonely boy who didn’t belong anywhere. But now I think… it was more than that. I think I was dreaming ofyou. Carnivalland was always meant to belong to you.”
Her eyes widened slightly, and I felt her breath catch.
“To me?” she asked in disbelief.
I nodded, inching closer to her on the velvet bench where we sat. “Carnival was never reallyme. I never cared for bright colors or playful chaos. And yet, when I built this place, I shaped it with those exact things in mind. Marielle even told me once that this castle doesn’t resemble me at all. But this?” I gestured to the stained-glass windows casting soft rainbows across the marble floor.
“This wasn’t for me. It was foryou.”
Gwendolyn’s eyes widened at my confession, she stayed silent for a bit and then she started smiling, tears transforming into her eyes. I quickly took her into my arms, her arms grazingagainst my back.
“I think this castle… this whole land… isn’t just mine, Gwendolyn,” I continued, voice softer now. “It’s yours too. It always has been. Maybe it was never about me at all.”
She stared at me, her body utterly still.
“I don’t even know what to say,” she murmured.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I said, sitting back and cupping her cheek. “Just stay with me.”
Then she looked at me, her expression uncertain. Her voice trembled slightly, as though the question had been waiting too long on her lips.
“What is on your beautiful mind right now?”
“It would sound strange to you too,” she said softly, almost as if she wasn’t sure she wanted me to hear it.
“Strange,” I murmured, brushing her knuckles with my thumb, “is my favorite.”
She gave a breathy laugh, but it quickly faded into a quiet truth.
“I’ve heard a voice… since I was little,” she confessed, voice barely above a whisper. “Not always, and never clearly. But it always felt… comforting...”
I gripped her chin, forcing her to focus on me.
“How did it feel?”
