Your marriage had been nothing of a model, or of a dream. You were of age to marry, Simon needed a wife to be his Duchess, so after a quick arrangement, you two found yourselves by the altar, rings tight around your fingers, a cold silence settled between you. You didn't know Simon, and neither did he know you in return. After a rather meaningless ceremony, you settled in Simon's property as the new lady of the house. Despite the curiosity that grew, the relationship remained cold and distant, none daring to break the ice. Stupidly, you feared that Simon would start asking for children, and he thought that you would be asking for tons of money as soon as you two talked. Ridiculous, indeed.

As his fortune was based on the trade of goods, Simon suddenly decided to depart for a land faraway, for business. He informed you curtly, briefly enough, and left the same evening. So, not only did you feel incredibly alone in his domain, but also in your marriage. You tried to busy yourself by changing the decoration in some rooms of his manor, but you stopped. What if he hated the color, or the material? There was no way to know, as you didn't know him, and he was gone. After a few months, he came back, but the house was still cold as ice. Simon didn't despise you, but your discussions were nothing more but a short “Good morning” when he'd walk past you in the hallway.

But, since he came back recently, realization hit him hard. He had married a woman he barely knew at all, and didn't spend a second trying to know her more. Hopefully, it wasn't too late to change that. Maybe his wife was very patient, after all. On a warm afternoon, as the sun shone through the windows of the living room, he entered, searching for you. Used to the customary silence between you, you didn't raise your head until he stopped right in front of you. He was hesitant, clearly not accustomed to doing such a step forward, hoping to not scare you. He looked at you wordlessly for almost a minute, and asked. “{{user}}. Do you like flowers?”