Chapter 5

The day after Arielle left, the air in Millerdale felt heavier, as though the town itself was holding its breath. Stephanie didn't know whether it was the weight of her own decisions or the quiet that had fallen over the once-bustling streets, but every step she took felt laden with meaning.

The morning was quiet—too quiet. No reporters, no royal aides, no busybody palace staff. Just the soft chirping of birds and the occasional rustling of leaves in the trees that lined the main street. It was almost too peaceful. Too… normal.

Stephanie sat at the small, round table in her apartment, the pale sunlight streaming through the window as she traced the rim of her coffee cup absentmindedly. It was the same cup she had used every morning for the past decade—designed in a muted royal blue, with a delicate gold trim. It had always felt like a small piece of home, the royal insignia painted carefully on the inside. Today, though, it felt like a reminder of everything she had walked away from.

A knock at the door startled her out of her thoughts.

She stood, reluctantly, and crossed to the door. Expecting it to be Logan with another stack of documents or a reminder of her obligations back at the palace, she was surprised to find Arielle standing on the doorstep, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable.

"You're not answering your phone," Arielle said, her voice tight with frustration. "We need to talk."

Stephanie swallowed, her throat dry. She hadn't expected this. Hadn't expected Arielle to return so soon. But there was something different in her eyes now—something softer. Something raw.

"I… I didn't think you'd come back," Stephanie said, her voice barely a whisper.

Arielle's gaze softened, but the sharp edge remained in her voice. "I'm not here to make things easy for you, Stephanie. But I'm not here to walk away, either. We need to find a way through this. I didn't drag myself back here to leave things unresolved."

Stephanie opened the door wider, silently inviting her in.

They sat across from each other in the same small living room where they had shared too many late-night conversations, their futures still bright and undefined. The same room that now felt like a prison, one that held the remnants of the person Stephanie used to be, and the person she had yet to become.

"I don't know if I can do this," Stephanie admitted after a long pause. "I don't know if I can come back. Not fully. I've spent so much time pretending that the Crown was my everything. But I don't know if it's even mine anymore."

Arielle studied her for a long moment, her eyes sharp as she assessed Stephanie's sincerity. "I've seen how you've changed. I can tell you're not the same person who walked away. But if you're going to stay, you have to commit. You have to stop hiding behind this façade of duty."

"I don't know how," Stephanie said, her voice breaking slightly. "I don't know how to step away from it all. To stop pretending. Michael—he needs me. The Crown needs me. The world needs me to be perfect."

Arielle stood up, pacing around the room, her frustration building. "What about what you need, Stephanie? What about what you want? You can't keep living for everyone else, not when it's breaking you apart."

Stephanie stared at the floor, feeling the weight of Arielle's words sink into her chest like an anchor. What did she want? She'd spent so long pleasing others, doing what was expected, that she had forgotten how to answer that question for herself.

"I don't even know who I am without all of it," Stephanie whispered.

Arielle knelt in front of her, her expression softer now. "You're still you. You're just buried under all this pressure. But you don't have to stay buried. You can choose something else. Something real."

Stephanie lifted her head, meeting Arielle's gaze. There was something unspoken in that look. Something that had always been there, lingering in the space between them. The quiet understanding that had once made them inseparable.

"I'm scared," Stephanie admitted. "I'm scared of losing everything. Of losing him."

Arielle's eyes softened even more, and she reached for Stephanie's hand. "If you stay in that cage, you'll lose yourself. And that's worse than losing him. I know you love him. But you've got to love yourself first. You can't give him everything if there's nothing left for you."

The words stung, but they were the truth. And deep down, Stephanie knew it.

The room felt heavier, the air thick with the weight of unspoken decisions. She didn't know where to start, or how to even begin to fix the mess she had made. But there was one thing she did know—she couldn't go back. Not to the life she'd built, not to the person she used to be. That version of herself no longer existed.

Arielle stood up, her hand lingering on Stephanie's for a moment longer than necessary.

"I'm not asking you to change overnight," Arielle said, her voice gentle now. "But you have to make a choice, Stephanie. Stay here, or go back. But don't keep yourself in limbo."

Stephanie nodded, her heart racing as she tried to process everything. There was so much at stake. So many lives intertwined with hers—Michael's, her family's, the kingdom's, the people of Millerdale. But at the end of the day, the only life she had any real control over was her own.

"I'll think about it," she said, her voice small. "I need time."

Arielle nodded, her expression softening. "You've always needed time. But don't wait too long."

With that, she left.

Stephanie sat in silence for a long while, staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts. For the first time, the weight of the decision ahead of her felt real. The Crown. Michael. Millerdale. Arielle. She could see it all before her—the tangled web of choices and consequences. And no matter which path she chose, there was no going back.

The only question was whether she could live with the one she'd make.