Emma was stunned by Therius' words. She did not think that was the case at all. Therius took his nickname Therius from the name Emma called him when he was a child. The name stuck with him, that he used it whenever he wanted to use a different identity, like when he studied in the academy or pretended to be General Moria's son.

How weird time is. Apparently, Therius met Emma in the past. He even kept Emma's ring that fell from her neck when she was attacked by the bad guys. Therius kept the ring for more than twenty years.

Emma looked at the man in surprise. Although they have been friends and spent a lot of time together, this was the first time that Emma looked at Therius attentively.

She felt that those topaz eyes held so much love for her. Her mind drifted to a moment ago when she met little Therius who was injured and about to be killed by rebels.

The boy lived a very miserable and lonely life. He didn't even want to live anymore when Emma saw him. Oh, the sad boy had grown into a strong and impressive man. Emma could hardly believe that they were the same person, as the boy was very different from the adult Therius she knew now.

Therius was powerful and formidable, and he was the new king of Akkadia. You could say he was the number one person on this planet.

This made Emma sigh with relief. Indeed, she could not imagine if Therius really died at the hands of rebels, this wonderful young man who was in front of her would never exist. Emma would never meet Therius, and she would never come to Akkadia.

With those thoughts in mind, a smile curved up on Emma's lips. She let out a sigh of relief and touched Therius' cheek gently.

"You are a strong and wonderful man. You will be a good king," said Emma softly.

Therius closed his eyes and felt Emma's hand on his cheek. He touched the girl's hand with his hand and then lowered it from his face. He clasped her hand with his and held it on his lap.

"I always remember you ..." Therius said honestly. "After I grew up, I tried to find you ... but no matter what I did, I couldn't find any information about you. You were gone without a trace. Then slowly, I forgot your face. When I saw you on the monitor in the messenger ship you sent ... finally I realized who you really are."

Emma was stunned when she heard Therius' words. "Is it true?"

She remembered that when he was at the moon base, she did send a message to Akkadia on a?messenger ship. She hoped someone or anyone could get her message and come to bring her back to Akkadia. She was longing to meet her family and no longer cared about her life.

Emma did not know that Therius and Xion were already on their way to earth to find her. She could imagine when Therius saw her on the monitor screen and found out that she was the missing daughter of Kaoshin Stardust and Princess Arreya that he came to get.

"At that time ... I was very happy because I could meet you again. At first, I felt confused ... what really happened. But then I remembered that my best friend is a Time Master. I immediately suspected that you must somehow go to the past. It must have something to do with Xion and your parents," Therius continued with a smile. He had kept this secret to himself for so long. Finally.. he felt a huge burden was relieved from his chest.

He could tell her how he felt in all honesty. When Emma asked him why he could love her after meeting her for only several months, he couldn't answer her. But now, he could. He could tell her that she left a deep impression on him decades ago, and when he met her again when they were both adults, he fell in love with her instantly.

"Why didn't you say anything to me?" asked Emma, ??biting her lip. She imagined that during several months that were together, Therius had been hiding this information from her. "Why didn't you tell me that my parents were going to die? Why didn't you just leave me on earth? If you knew all these would happen?"

Therius felt his chest tightened at Emma's question. It was not her accusations that pained his heart, but her sadness.

'Because I want to be with you, Emma Stardust. I now realized I had been selfish. Please forgive me.'

Therius could only say those words silently.

'If only I could go back to the past and change it, I would. I want to keep you away from all this suffering.'

He lowered his head, hiding the tears that trickled down from his eyes. The young king, who was cold and ruthless on the exterior, felt great sorrow for the woman he loved.

He had felt very guilty for Emma when she was threatened on swordpoint by his grandmother's men. It was a heartbreaking experience and a turning point in his life. He realized, If he could change history ... he would ask Xion to go back in time and tell his old self to forget about Emma, ??tell Therius to just let her live happily on earth with Haoran.

Ever since Emma returned to Akkadia with him, the girl had been stricken with tragedy after tragedy. He felt ashamed of himself because, as a man, he could not protect Emma from suffering and make her happy.

"I ... had no idea that the reason you returned to the past ... was because your parents had died," Therius said sadly. "I didn't know anything. I just saw you come to help me when I was captured by the enemy... then you cried when Princess Arreya came. Then, suddenly, you disappeared. Everything was a mystery to me."

Therius took Emma's hand in both his and looked at the girl closely. "If only I had known ... I would have done anything, anything, to prevent all that misfortune from happening to you. I'm sorry ... I am incapable of taking care of you."

Emma realized that Therius's words were true. No one could know what really happened. Not even Xion, unless he purposely went to the future to find out. However, even the future could change if they did something that could break the flow of time.

Really, time was a very confusing thing. Now, Emma realized she had found the answer to her life-long question. She always wondered what made her parents suddenly decided to elope on the night before Arreya's wedding to Darius.

Now, she could guess that Arreua read her mind and knew who she was. That was why Arreya and Kaoshin suddenly make that drastic decision.

Had Emma not come to the past, Kaoshin and Arreya would not have decided to run away from Akkadia.

However, had they not fled Akkadia and given birth to Emma, ??they would not have become fugitives chased by the Akkadian royal family and then met their demise.

Meanwhile, it was their deaths that pushed Emma to go to the past, with Xion's help.

"It's all over now," said Therius in a soft voice. "We will have a funeral for your parents with great honor. They didn't do anything wrong, and I will clear their names. Then, I will punish everyone responsible for their deaths."

Emma's thoughts drifted to the evil old woman who hated her family so deeply. Queen Ygrit was overcome by her hatred for Arreya and Kaoshin that she did everything to make Emma suffer and her parents killed.

Emma's mind went to the handsome young man who looked like Therius in the past. The man was very friendly and kind. Emma understood why Queen Ygrit loved her son so much. Prince Darius did look like a very nice man.

She also understood that Darius was her mother's best friend. They had also been betrothed since they were children. Had Emma not come and see her parents in the past, Arreya would have married Darius, and all the enmity between these two families would not have existed.

"This is all my fault ..." muttered Emma in a trembling voice. She could only see that the root cause of all the problems was actually herself.