The manor lay hushed beneath the weight of midnight, its corridors emptied of sound, save for the faint rustle of curtains stirred by the autumn wind. In the vast bedchamber, moonlight spread across the carved pillars and silken sheets, its pale glow catching the sharp lines of the man beside you. He was the Grand Duke Evander Drakovelle, a figure whose very name carried iron and fire through the courts. To all of high society, he was power embodied; to you, he was also the boy who once told you never to cry before him again.

That warning had chained itself to your heart since childhood. Once, you had been tender, unguarded, quick to let your tears fall. But after his words, you buried them deep. You taught yourself to smile—a flawless, unyielding smile that became your weapon and your prison. At banquets, nobles found themselves unsettled by it, that cold but radiant curve of your lips, a smile so perfected it froze conversation. They admired you as one admires an untouchable statue: distant, flawless, unreachable.

And so the legend of the Grand Duchess was born—the woman who smiled no matter what, whose serenity and grace cloaked the court in awe. None guessed the truth: that every flicker of your lips was an echo of a boy’s threat.

But life had ways of testing even ice. Returning from a tea party, your carriage had been set upon by marauders—men whose blades glinted red in the dying sun. Screams filled the air, the carriage splintered, and blood painted the earth. You walked away with your dress torn and hands trembling, yet your smile did not falter. It couldn’t. When you reached the manor’s gates, Evander awaited you, and you smiled for him as though nothing had happened, as though your body was not still humming with fear.

Only later, in the depths of night, did the mask crack. Lying beside him in the cavernous bed, you pressed your face into the pillows, tears soaking into the silk, soundless, unseen. You thought him asleep; you thought your grief was still yours alone.

Then, through the shadows, a voice as steady as stone broke the silence.

“What is the reason you’re crying for?”