Lia slowly turned around.
The moment her eyes settled upon the figure standing several meters away, everything around her seemed to lose its meaning.
The sounds of rustling leaves, the distant voices, and even the gentle breeze disappeared as though the world itself had fallen silent. Time no longer moved forward. It stood still, allowing only the two of them to exist in that fleeting moment.
Maximus stood there without saying a single word.
His body remained completely still, yet his trembling shoulders betrayed the storm raging inside him. Tears continuously rolled down his face without restraint, and his moist eyes never left Lia for even a single heartbeat.
He had imagined this reunion countless times during the endless nights when sleep had refused to visit him, but every fantasy he had created now seemed insignificant compared to the reality standing before him.
Lia’s breathing came to an abrupt stop.
Her fingers instinctively curled into her palms while her heart pounded so violently that it almost hurt. She stared at the man before her as if she could not convince herself that he was truly standing there.
His memories flashed one by one.
One after another, countless forgotten moments flooded back into her mind without warning. She remembered the first time they had spoken, the days they had spent laughing together, the arguments that had always ended with smiles, and the promises they had made beneath a sky that now felt unimaginably distant.
Every shared smile, every quiet conversation, and every precious memory that she had buried deep inside her heart resurfaced all at once, crashing into her consciousness with overwhelming force.
Meanwhile, Maximus struggled to keep himself composed.
He had been waiting for this moment for hours, rehearsing what he wanted to say over and over inside his mind, yet now that Lia was truly standing before him, every prepared word had disappeared.
William had helped him prepare himself before coming here. He had found him proper clothes that no longer resembled the tattered appearance of a beggar. His long white hair had been properly trimmed, giving him a cleaner and far more dignified appearance than before.
Yet none of those changes mattered right now.
His clothes, his appearance, and even his restored dignity all became meaningless the instant he saw Lia standing alive before him.
Unable to remain where he was any longer, Maximus slowly began walking toward her.
Each step felt impossibly heavy, as though years of guilt had attached themselves to his feet. His vision blurred repeatedly because of the tears that refused to stop flowing, yet he continued forward.
There were emotions surging through his chest that he could neither understand nor describe. Relief, guilt, happiness, fear, regret, longing, and self-hatred all mixed together until they became something too overwhelming for words.
A short distance away, William quietly stepped beside Sera and Tamasya.
Without saying anything, he gently wrapped an arm around each of them while all three silently watched the reunion they had worked so hard to make possible.
Sera had already begun crying.
Unable to hide her emotions, she buried her face against William’s chest while he gently stroked the back of her head in silence. Even Tamasya’s usually composed expression had softened considerably as she watched the heartbreaking scene unfold before her.
All of them had imagined this reunion countless times.
They had expected Lia to immediately run toward Maximus before throwing herself into his embrace. They had expected him to hold her tightly while both of them cried with relief after everything they had endured.
Instead, reality unfolded in a way none of them had anticipated. Neither of them moved to embrace the other.
Lia remained rooted to the ground.
Her hands had unconsciously risen near her chest as though she wanted to reach out toward him, yet they stopped midway before nervously fidgeting in place.
Tears shimmered in her eyes, but her feet refused to move. It was not because she did not want to run toward him. Rather, there were simply too many emotions colliding inside her for her body to respond.
Maximus also made no attempt to embrace her. Instead, the moment he finally stood before Lia, his legs completely gave out beneath him.
His knees struck the ground with a dull thud. He did not kneel to propose. He did not kneel to hold her hands.
He simply collapsed before her.
His head lowered until tears fell freely onto the ground before eventually landing upon Lia’s shoes.
Lia felt the warmth of those tears and instinctively flinched, yet she remained completely motionless.
She stared down at him while her breathing became increasingly uneven.
"I... I’m sorry..." Maximus’s voice emerged as nothing more than a broken whisper.
His face had become bright red from crying while his entire body shook uncontrollably.
"Lia..." His words broke apart beneath heavy sobs.
"I am so sorry... because of me... you suffered."
He lowered his head even further as though he no longer possessed the courage to look at her.
"For so long... I searched everywhere for you. Every city... every village... every sign... I chased all of them. I wanted to find you no matter what, but I couldn’t."
His voice cracked so violently that he was forced to stop speaking for several seconds.
"I failed." Fresh tears splashed onto the ground beneath him.
"I failed because I wasn’t capable enough to. I was too late every time.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. "I don’t deserve your forgiveness."
His breathing became ragged. "I don’t deserve to stand before you after everything that happened."
Another sob escaped his throat. "Yet here I am..."
He laughed bitterly at himself through his tears. "The same cowardly Maximus..."
"Asking for something I could never deserve." By this point, his composure had completely shattered. His cries became louder and more desperate with every passing second.
Yet he was not the only one crying.
Tears silently streamed down Lia’s face as well.
She continued staring at him while countless thoughts raced through her mind. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many questions she wanted answered, and so much pain she had carried for so long that her heart simply refused to choose where to begin.
Maximus never tried to stand up. He remained kneeling before her as though that position were the only place he deserved to be.
"Please..." His throat had tightened so much that every word came out strained.
"Punish me." His shoulders trembled violently.
"Make me pay for everything." His breathing became increasingly frantic.
"But please..." He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Don’t stay silent." "I want to hear your voice."
"I just want to know..." His voice rose higher than normal as another sob interrupted him.
"I just want to know if you’re okay."
He could no longer bring himself to meet her eyes. He simply remained there, crying like a man whose soul had finally collapsed after carrying unbearable guilt for years.