Royal Heartstrings

Chapter 28- The annual unity festival

Valerie's POV:

I woke up to a knock on my door, groggily checking the time to see it was 7 am. I got out of bed and made my way to the door, opening it to find Saintly beaming at me.

"Happy Unity Festival!" Saintly exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement.

I smiled back. "Happy Unity Festival to you too, Saintly."

My gaze fell on an envelope in Saintly's hand, and she noticed me looking at it. "Julie asked me to give this to you," she said, holding out the envelope.

I was surprised, but I smiled and took it from her. "Thanks, Saintly."

She bounced up and down. "I'm going to go prepare for the festival now. I have to help set up the stalls and make sure everything is perfect. I'll see you later, Val!"

I smiled and closed the door, the envelope still clutched in my hand. I didn't know why I was feeling nervous, but I pushed the feeling down and sat on my bed to open the envelope. I took a deep, shaky breath and pulled out the neatly folded paper inside.

As I opened it, I saw Julie's handwriting staring back at me. I wondered what was going on, but I started reading anyway.

As I read the letter, my heart ached for Julie. Her words poured out like a confession, raw and honest.

"Dear Val,

I'm sorry for everything. I know it doesn't cover it at all, I know it's not enough, I know I have wronged you. For that, I'm so sorry.

With that apology, which I don't expect you to accept, I know I owe you an explanation. Bellamy and I are indeed sisters. When we were younger, we were very close, inseparable, in fact. Our parents loved each other and us too, it was perfect, but everything changed when our parents separated. Bellamy got taken by my father, and I stayed with my mum and my grandma, but my mum died of a disease a few years back. I had to take care of myself and my grandma, so I found a job at the Palace. It was going fine until I saw my sister working here too. I was very happy, elated to reconcile with her, but she hated me. She hated my guts."

I stopped reading, noticing a tear drop on the paper, smudging the word "hated" I was sure it was from Julie. My eyes went out to the older girl, and I felt a pang of sympathy.

The letter continued, "I confronted her to ask why she changed so much. She told me that I got to enjoy time with mum while she had to stay with dad, who didn't have time for her at all. That I grew up with love while she grew up neglected, so she decided that she would never talk to me. I tried, Val, I tried everything, but she still hated me. Everything I did was never enough, but I still kept on trying, wanting my younger sister back, wanting what we had when we were younger. But I was foolish, Val. Now I've lost both of my sisters, Bellamy and you. I wish I could turn back the hands of time, but alas, I can't. I want to apologize over and over again, but I know it won't be enough, so I want to say... I'm leaving."

My heart skipped a beat as I read the sentence. Julie was leaving? Where was she going? And why?

I forced myself to continue reading, despite the urge to puke.

"I'm leaving for good, away from you, Val. At least I know that's the right thing to do, and that would be even a little bit of a good apology, so you don't have to see my disgusting face. So I'm letting my hair down, literally. To find forgiveness and to suffer for what I did to you and my sister too. I want you to know that if maybe my prayers can be heard, then I'm praying for you, and that you receive all the happiness in the world, because you deserve it and more. You will always be my friend, Val, and I wish I could have seen your hometown or celebrated the festival with you. I want you to know that I love you, and I always will, no matter what. With love, Julie."