Chapter 1420
Let them all see, then. Let everyone witness how Elizabeth entered the cemetery, how she was laid to rest, and how everyone finally accepted that she truly was Kendrick’s wife.
At the top of the hill, the group gathered before Kendrick’s gravestone.
Soren led the mourners, bowing his head in salute to Kendrick. Like Elizabeth, he was a hero.
Tarquin cradled Elizabeth’s urn in his arms, staring at the photo of the handsome man on the headstone. He spoke softly, his voice low and steady, but with a tremor that betrayed his emotion.
“Dad, I brought Mom home p>
A gentle breeze swept through the crowd, drying the tears from their eyes. There wasn’t a dry eye to be found.
After all their struggles, these two star-crossed lovers were finally reunited.
At exactly ten in the morning-the appointed hour-it was time.
Open the casket.
Kendrick had died young, and had a traditional burial.
His grave wasn’t one of those tiny plots you see nowadays. The coffin was old- fashioned, big enough to fit a full-grown man.
The grave had already been dug up that morning, and the solid oak coffin lay exposed.
They opened the casket. The lid creaked as it came off.
The women in the family broke down in tears.
Inside, there was no body-just an urn containing Kendrick’s ashes, along with a few of his personal belongings.
Years ago, Kendrick and Elizabeth had died overseas. Their bodies had been cremated abroad and brought back home.
Still, the Bradford family insisted on following the old burial customs, almost as if the bodies were intact.
Kendrick’s urn was set at the head of the coffin, and the rest of the space was packed full-but no sign of Elizabeth. Every memento was Kendrick’s alone.
The Bradfords had refused to
acknowledge Elizabeth. They’d tried to keep the lovers apart in life, and
even in death they tried to erase her
from Kendrick’s story.
belongs to s
They had buried Kendrick while scrubbing out any trace of Elizabeth—even going
so far as to perform rituals to keep her spirit away from him.
Tarquin stood aside, his brow furrowed and his eyes red.
Following the instructions of the priest, he handed Elizabeth’s urn to Elysia and
led the group in a final prayer for Kendrick.
Then, he rolled up his sleeves and began clearing out the coffin.
He was going to replace everything in there with things that belonged to both Kendrick and Elizabeth-a wedding photo, the outfits they wore
on theading day, their favorite
paintings, handwritten notes so many tokens of their love. s
Every item was a memory, a piece of their happiness.
As Tarquin worked, he couldn’t help but notice small things-signs that someone
else had been inside the coffin before him.
He wasn’t surprised. Whoever had spent so much effort searching for the “eighth-generation virus” and secret data surely wouldn’t have ignored his father’s grave. s
But the intruder hadn’t vandalized anything. Kendrick’s urn was undisturbed, everything else neatly arranged.
Even earlier, before they’d opened the casket, Tarquin had checked the seal was still perfectly intact.
It meant that whoever had been here felt something for his father. No one treats their enemy’s grave with that much care.
If it had just been about revenge, the casket would’ve been left in chaos, not
carefully closed up again.
Tarquin felt a sharp ache in his chest.
This only confirmed his suspicions.
Ding-his phone vibrated with a new message.
Tarquin’s heart skipped a beat. He stopped what he was doing and pulled out his phone to check.