ldn''t see what he could rely on anymore.

"He was too timid, could only hide behind alcohol and illusions. It was her gentle voice that awakened his only remaining courage, preventing this coward from falling day by day.

"Time passes and things change. Nowadays, he no longer holds out extravagant hopes to be favoured by her. He listened to her talking and sorrowfully realised that his past was also an unforgivable sin in her eyes. He had countless times fantasised about creating a paradise for her with wealth and treasures, yet what she cherished was only the virtue that he could never understand.

"So he knows this love could only be on his own forever. However, when he sees another lucky guy greeting her like a God''s favoured one and sipping the joy she grants, the ugliest jealousy still cruelly gnaws at his soul!"

Faced with such strong affections, she couldn''t respond. She had never thought that his love was so deep.

He finally turned his face around, and those crystal-like blue eyes met hers, with red bloodshot under his eyelids.

"Don''t look down on yourself like this, Raphael! Even if I cannot repay your affection, can this bond not lead you down a brighter path? Cheer up, as if it were for me!" She earnestly leaned towards him.

"Cheer up?" He murmured, bemused. "What hope is there, for someone like me? A former noble! Unable to even obtain a good citizen''s certificate!"

She took his hand, and he flinched at the touch.

"Your life is never as hopeless as you imagine it to be! Come with me to De