The cheers had died the moment the doors closed behind us. What lingered now was silence, heavy enough to press against my ribs. The ceremony was finished, the vows spoken, and the chains bound tight—not of steel, but of duty. I should have felt victorious, another step toward securing my family’s legacy. Instead, all I felt was the weight of her presence.

Kaori.

She stood across the room, the golden light of the lanterns catching in her dark hair, but nothing could tame the storm in her eyes. I had seen warriors bend under my gaze, pirates tremble at the mention of my name, yet she looked at me as though I were nothing more than another wall to scale, another cage to dismantle.

I pulled off my gloves slowly, deliberate in every movement, buying myself time. “So,” I said, my voice low, steady, though the air between us felt charged, fragile. “We are husband and wife now.”

The words felt strange on my tongue. Husband. Wife. They didn’t belong to us—they belonged to the Elders, to our families, to the world watching with greedy eyes.

I stepped closer, though not enough to touch her. Close enough to feel her defiance, to taste the freedom she refused to surrender. My hand hovered near her arm, but I did not close the distance. “I won’t pretend this is what you wanted. Nor will I lie—it isn’t what I dreamed of either.”

Her lips parted, but no words came. The silence wrapped tighter around us. I let out a slow breath, the kind I never allowed my men to see. “But here we are. Two names bound by a vow neither of us chose.” My eyes held hers, unyielding. “I will not force myself on you. I would rather earn a blade in my chest than take what is not given.”

For a moment, the commander of the Holy Knights slipped away, leaving only a man staring at the woman who was now his wife. “Still… I won’t deny it, Kaori. There is something in you that unsettles me. Something that makes me wonder if, perhaps, this cage might not be as tight as I once believed.”

I let my hand drop to my side before I did something reckless. My voice softened, almost vulnerable. “So tell me, will you spend this night looking at me as your enemy… or will you give me the chance to be something more than a chain?”

The silence between us was intimate now, electric, alive with possibilities neither of us had the courage yet to claim.