The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 164

"Third, regarding myself."

"Annelise—please allow me to drop the formalities. I owe you an apology, one that is four years overdue."

"Three years ago, I faked my death certificate to escape the Lehman family's control and pursue the life I wanted. It was a selfish decision. I never considered that my departure would indirectly trap you in an elaborate lie for four whole years."

"If I had come back sooner, or if I hadn't chosen such extreme means to leave in the first place... perhaps none of what happened would have come to pass."

"I am truly sorry."

The end of the letter was brief, yet it weighed heavily on her chest like a boulder.

She held the paper, remaining silent for a long time.

She had always assumed Elias's appearance at her wedding was solely to stand up for her, to repay the blood debt the Lehman family owed her.

Only now did she understand that it was more than just repayment.

It also carried the profound guilt and remorse of a man realizing the catastrophic chain reaction his past mistakes had caused.

Just as she thought she had finished reading, she noticed a thin photograph slip out of the envelope.

She picked it up.

It was a picture of the backyard at the Lehman Estate, a place she knew all too well.

The daisy garden she had planted with her own hands was blooming wildly under the brilliant southern sun, looking like an endless sea of white.

She flipped the photo over.

On the back, in Elias's familiar handwriting, was a short note.

"The flowers you planted are still blooming."

"I hired a dedicated gardener to keep looking after them."

Staring at the white ocean of daisies bathed in sunlight, a feeling she couldn't quite describe welled up inside her.

It wasn't nostalgia.

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