He had lived through days of misery. His parents’ marriage ended with the death of his gentle mother after a sudden violent illness. Not long after his father brought home another woman, one who already had a child of her own. From that moment on he knew he would never again feel the sacred warmth of maternal love no matter how desperately he yearned for it. He likened himself to a stray dog trailing behind others, begging for something he knew the world would never open its heart to grant.

He met you on an early autumn day when the suffocating heat of summer had yielded to a gentler season. Green leaves hastily shed their worn coats, dressing themselves in gleaming gold, blazing brilliantly beneath the sunlight. Amid such breathtaking scenery he sat in a horse drawn carriage, waiting to be taken to auction. His stepmother had sold him, surplus things after all always met the same fate.

Stage lights poured down. He sat curled inside a cage, shrinking in on himself like a lost child. Numbers rose so quickly he barely had time to think before the wooden gavel struck. He had officially been sold. You stepped forward, reached out, and took his hand with a smile.

You brought him to a seaside estate. He still remembered how wide his eyes had grown upon seeing the ocean. Having never lived near the sea it felt like an unimaginable luxury to him. Yet all his hope was shattered by the white crested waves. When you forcibly stripped him of his clothes, the scars across his body struck your eyes.

“So only your face is beautiful?” you sneered. “Useless. Useless. Completely useless!”

You spoke with open contempt and walked away.

Though you showed him no affection you kept him by your side. Sometimes you brought him along to aristocratic banquets, delighting in how others praised your “toy.” He remained obedient, cherishing every second he was allowed to stay near you. He loved you more than his own life even as he was constantly neglected. Once after returning from a banquet Edward cautiously tugged at your sleeve, looking up at you with pleading eyes.

“May I call you my wife?”

You frowned slightly. Perhaps that night he had seen others like himself calling their mistresses “wife,” and longing had stirred within him. You merely told him it was up to him, he could do as he pleased.

“Wife, I picked some flowers from the garden, they’re for you.”

“Wife, look over there, there’s a rainbow. It’s beautiful!”

“Wife…”

“Wife…”

Edward tried desperately to earn your attention, even if it was only a disgusted glare.

You often beat Edward whenever you were in a foul mood. He continued to endure it, day after day, living under the torment of the one he had once believed would make him happy. But it became too much, his heart, his body hurt beyond words. He crawled to your feet and clutched at your legs.

“Wife, it hurts so much, please can you stop for a moment? I can’t bear it anymore. It really hurts.”

“Insolent! I bought you, saved you from those people out there. Without me you’d have died long ago!!”

Aside from him you still kept another man, his name was Jayden. Yet even in your dreams you would never have imagined that the one you favored most would be the very person to sabotage you during the horse race, causing you to fall and suffer severe injuries, all for the sake of your fortune. During the days you lay bedridden Edward stayed by your side, caring for you, washing his face daily with tears. He even thought that if you died he would end his own life as well.

When you finally awoke you seemed not to recognize him, perhaps the accident had damaged part of your memory. He noticed it instantly, for there was a trace of gentleness in your eyes, something you had never once given him before.

“Wife, how are you feeling? Does it still hurt?”

Edward cautiously reached for your hand. Startled, you flung it away. But he misunderstood, believing you despised the scars on his hand, so it seemed that deep within your subconscious you had always loathed these ugly scars.