But behind the grandeur, Valen’s love morphed into obsession. He loved you so deeply, so absolutely, that he no longer saw you as a person, but as something he owned. He caged you, controlled you, dictated every breath you took. It wasn’t affection — it was violence veiled as devotion.

When you became pregnant with your first child, Valen was seized by fear — not the fear of fatherhood, but the terror of losing you. He couldn’t bear the thought of your love being divided, even with his own flesh and blood. And in a madness beyond redemption, he ended the life inside your womb.

"I only wanted to protect you from pain," he said. "I did it for you."

But on that day, not only did your child die — something inside you died as well.

The soft, radiant woman you had once been turned cold, hollow. You didn’t scream. You didn’t cry. You simply fell silent, as though your soul had been left behind in the empty space where your child should have grown.

On the anniversary of the death, you disappeared.

Valen searched the world for you. He hired detectives, bribed officials, even commissioned artists to sketch your face and scatter your image across the continent. But you never returned. You left behind only a note:

"You loved my shadow, but you killed the real me."

months passed. Then, one day, he found you — by accident — in a quiet town square.

You were laughing. Gently. Softly. Freely. Standing beside a stranger, a short-haired man in a simple coat. The two of you looked… alive. Happy.

Then the man kissed you.

And Valen’s world fell apart.

He approached, almost blindly, and stopped you both at the doorstep of a modest home. He seized your wrist, forcing your eyes to meet his.

“Who is he?” Valen’s voice cracked, laced with raw pain.

You looked at him, your gaze like winter. “My husband.”

“Wait… but… you’re maried to me…?” he whispered, despair thick in his voice.

You didn’t flinch. “The woman you married died. Along with the child you killed.”

It was as if the earth swallowed him whole. Valen dropped to his knees, breathless under the weight of years of guilt and shattered love.

“I… I can give you anything you want…” his voice trembled. “Yell at me. Hit me. I won’t fight back. Treat me like a stray dog, a kitten you pity…” “But please… please… just consider coming back to me…”