Xion wanted to hit Therius because he was very upset, but before he could do it, he heard Emma's voice whimper, and then her lashes fluttered. Finally, the girl opened her eyes.

Xion's hand that was already raised to hit Therius, stopped in midair. He quickly went to Emma and knelt at the foot of the bed.

"Are you awake?" he asked in a worried voice. Xion's attitude made Therius narrow his eyes. He was not happy to see Xion approach Emma. He already knew that the man also loved her.

However, he didn't want to force his friend to leave so that he could have Emma to himself. After all, the three of them were friends, and he knew Xion must be very worried about the girl.

Emma opened her eyes and frowned in surprise. She turned to Xion, who was looking at her from the side with an anxious expression. The girl had tears in her eyes, but her face slowly smiled.

She raised her hand and rubbed Xion's face. She remembered what had happened. Xion was the Time Master. The man took her to the past, to fulfill Emma's request, who was longing to be reunited with her parents.

Although she was deeply saddened and hurt by the death of her father and mother, seeing them in person and having the chance to hug them one last time made Emma feel a consolation. The wound in her heart now felt less painful than before. She had found her closure.

Emma was very grateful to Xion. However, as her pair of topaz eyes met the young man's purple eyes, Emma's chest pounded.

There was something in Xion's eyes that made her unable to take her eyes off of the man. She wondered what was on Xion's mind right now? Why was he looking at her with such expression?

"Xion ... thank you," whispered Emma in a hoarse voice. She was?feeling so emotional. "Because of you .. I was able to meet my parents ..."

Xion smiled and nodded. He brushed Emma's hair gently and subconsciously held his breath. He knew that Emma was very beautiful, but it seemed, this was the first time he admired her beauty openly.

Xion stared at Emma closely, as if carving the girl's face in his mind. He knew he'd have to leave soon and he couldn't see her again. Xion could not linger in the capital because it would be too painful for him to see Emma marry Therius and build a family with him.

"I told you, right? I will grant your one wish," Xion whispered gently. He wanted to hug Emma, ??but he tried hard to hold back. He knew.. if he followed his desire, he would never let her go.

Emma nodded emotionally. She held Xion's hand that brushed her hair and grasped it tightly. "You kept your promise .. Thank you."

Hearing that, Xion smiled even wider. "I am a man of my word.. unlike a certain someone."

Emma pursed her lips and hit the man's hand, not hard, just playfully. Xion's words made her smile. Yes, she realized, she hadn't been exactly known for keeping her promise.

"You...!" she muttered with a pout. A moment later, Emma felt her clothes and then her injured right shoulder. "I thought I was hurt quite badly. Why do I get better already? Have I slept for a long time?

Xion glanced at Therius with a sharp gaze. Therius should have revealed his secret as a sanomancer and cured Emma completely, but he didn't.

Didn't Therius love Emma? How could he let Emma suffer pain from her wound?

Thinking about this made Xion really angry. If only he were the sanomancer, he would have healed Emma right away.

Therius smiled hastily and shook his head. "You're not that badly injured. The thugs' knife didn't stab too deep. Soon you should be able to recover."

Emma frowned in surprise. She tried to sit up and examine her body. When her hand touched her neck, the girl suddenly shrieked in surprise.

"What is wrong?" asked Therius anxiously. "Are you in any pain? Where?"

Emma shook her head, frantically. She felt all the folds of her clothes and suddenly she looked devastated.

"My ring ..." She pursed his lips and cried again. "My ring is gone ..."

Xion glanced at Therius' neck. He understood what happened. Emma must have lost the ring in the past, and Therius found it. The man kept it for more than twenty years.

"Your ring is on your finger, right?" asked Xion attentively. He pointed at Emma's slender fingers. One of them was wearing her topaz ring.

The girl shook her head. "Not this one ... but Haoran's ring."

Emma touched and felt her clothes again, thinking it might get stuck there. She couldn't find the ring. Her voice sounded very sad as she explained what happened.

"I hang the ring around my neck with a leather strap. I don't want to lose it," said Emma sadly. "I think the strap broke when they stabbed me with a knife. Now the ring is gone ..."

After Therius asked Emma to hide her and Haoran's wedding ring so as not to arouse other people's suspicions, Emma decided to keep Haoran's ring around her neck in a leather strap, so she could always wear the ring without being noticed by other people.

But when she woke up just now, Emma realized that it was no longer hanging around her neck. She felt very sad because Haoran's ring was the only thing her husband left behind. If she lost it in the past, she wouldn't be able to find it.

Seeing Emma looking devastated, Therius hurriedly touched the girl's hand and rubbed it gently.

"Sshh ... it is not gone," he said with a smile. He stared at Emma for a long time and then slowly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a leather strap that held a white ring decorated with blue topaz. "I ... keep it safe for you."

Emma pressed her lips in shock when she saw the object hanging from Therius's neck. She had no idea that Therius had been hiding her ring around his neck all this time.

She remembered that in Daneria, she had seen Therius take off his clothes when he was about to swim in the river, but he didn't have the ring on his neck back then.

"I purposely never showed it to you. I'm worried you might be surprised," Therius said as if he could read Emma's mind. "I've kept it for 21 years."

He unlatched the strap and untied took the ring. Therius then handed it into Emma's palm. The girl stared wide-eyed at the ring that Therius had put on her hand. She couldn't believe it.

The ring was really Haoran's ring that she had been wearing around her neck for months.

She looked at Therius with disbelief.

"H-how come?" asked the girl confused. "I don't understand ..."

She turned to Xion with a confused look. How is that possible??

Therius smiled in amusement, at Emma's reaction, which he found adorable.

"Sshh ... it's actually very simple. After you left, I found your ring slipped inside my clothes. I think it fell when you hugged me after the thugs hurt you. I immediately assumed it was yours because I remember you had the same ring on your finger. "

"You .. have kept it so long?" asked Emma in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because you are my savior ..." Therius replied softly. "Because of you ... I became more resilient, and I grow up to become a stronger man, just like what you told me to."

Emma pursed her lips and shook her head. Why was it like this? Did she change something in the past that made Therius change?

She looked at Xion intently, trying to ask for an explanation.

"Xion .. did I make a big mistake and change history?" she asked in a low voice. "Did my parents ... or Therius suffer the consequences?"

Xion shook his head with a smile.

"No ... everything that happened was supposed to happen. We didn't change anything. Since I met Therius eleven years ago, he already had that ring around his neck. He has indeed kept that thing for more than twenty years. I can attest to that."

"Oh ..." Emma turned back to Therius. "I didn't know that ..."

"It's all right," said Therius. "I think you have to come to the past so that you can get closure. Do you know, I use the name Therius every time I want to hide my identity? I heard you call me Therius many times when we met in the past. It wasn't my name, but I liked it when you called me that."

.

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From the author:

I have two announcements to make :).

1. SEQUEL

I cannot continue the sequel of this book in a separate book. I have exhausted my quota of 20 books in Webnovel and I cannot make a new book. I am writing in two languages, so I took my quota faster than most authors on this platform.

I think Webnovel never realized that someone could exhaust 20 books quota so quickly. I already reported this to them, but they still haven't made any upgrades so I cannot make a new book.

There was an empty book that I initially planned to use as the sequel, it already has the title "Queen Of Akkadia", but I now decided to keep it empty and use it for a future book with a new story if someday I have a new idea. Otherwise, next time I got a new story, I really won't have any more space to write it.

I cannot make new books using another account because readers won't see the books connected to me and I would lose a lot of readers who could come from different books. So... after this volume ends, I will continue Emma, Therius, and Xion's story in THIS SAME BOOK.

.

2. GIVEAWAY WINNERS for my Privilege in September. I randomly picked the winners last week. Details in my Instagram.

The Alchemist: Cinta Abadi (It crossed 1k so I gave 10 giveaways)

94 luluk yulis

57 Andi_Hazami

10 Perianthikasal

112 theFthing

81 Wandi

36 Coby sarah

28 Murniatisri

4 Meliana Simbolon

13 Iva Alfath

11 Double_yu

The Prince Who Cannot Fall In Love (It crossed 500, so I gave 5 giveaways)

37 Roland_aqiela

20 Rika Sihotang

73 Anna Al Fajri

57 rjn

76 Sihan Siregar

I'm sorry, Finding Stardust didn't cross 500 so I cannot justify any giveaways for this book. Details can be seen on my Instagram @missrealitybites

We are still joining Win-Win Event in October, and I will randomly pick 10 winners to get giveaways from me in November for those who bought my privilege and send the screenshot to my email: