---- chest , even more faster than before.


    Who is this person? Reveal yourself.


    Damien''smand had the person moving.


    Gloved hands move up and in a single, deliberate motion, the cloak falls away.


    Damiens heart lurches.


    His breathing halts.


    The ground beneath him feels like its caving in.


    A familiar pair of brown eyes meets his own.


    Eyes he''d never thought he''d see again.


    He must be dreaming.


    It was too good to be true.


    This is impossible.


    How could...


    Those soft brown eyes were back.


    Looking back at ---- Chapter 495, him or rather right into his soul.


    The very gaze that had him sleepless at nights .


    They weren''t red but her own.


    How? Her expression remains calm, almost unnervingly so, as her lips part.


    Good to know you are alive, Damien.


    Her voicethat familiar soft, measured, yet unmistakablehits him like a dagger to the chest.


    It wasn''t just her voice It wasnt another one of his dreams.


    Tt was her.


    In person.


    Right in front of him.


    And before he could even realise, the word escapes his lips in a whisper, cracked and raw, the word that he has been dying to call for just once in the past months.


    Princess? ---- Chapter 496 Damien swayed slightly, his head spinning.


    He took a step closer, pushing his clutch forward, his heartbeat roaring in his ears.


    Then another.


    Closer.


    And there.


    He tugged her into his arms, desperate, his fingers gripping her tightly as though letting go would make her vanish with the wind.


    His arms wrapped around her trembling form, holding her as though the world around them didn''t exist.


    Her breathing was soft, almost imperceptible, but it was there She was here.


    Y-you are actually here.


    I am...


    Tam not dreaming? ---- The question broke from him, fragile and uncertain, his voice a trembling echo of disbelief.


    Zariyans lips curved into a smile.


    Let me prove it to you, she whispered And then, before Damienor anyone else present could understand, she reached up, her fingers curling around the back of his neck.


    She pulled him down.


    Her lips crashed against his in a fierce, unrelenting kiss.


    Damien froze.


    To say he was stunned would have been an understatement.


    He couldntprehendcouldn''t process what was happening.


    Her lips, rough and desperate, moved against his as though trying to erase months of pain and distance in a single heartbeat.


    He stood still, paralyzed, until instinctmemory took over.