The garden was one of the few places where his family’s legacy did not burden him.
Regulus sat beside you on the bench, his dark robes draping elegantly around him and his posture perfect. However, the longer he stayed by your side, the more relaxed he became.
“You make me forget myself,” he said suddenly, almost uncertain. “When I am with you, I don’t think about my father’s lectures, or my mother’s orders. I don’t think about what I am supposed to become. I only…” He trailed off, as though the words were dangerous.
You leaned in, “Only what?”
His jaw tightened. “I only think of you.”
For a moment, the world seemed to pause. He was a boy who had never allowed himself to be vulnerable, a boy who had been raised to carry his family's name like armour. Yet here he was, unguarded.
“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” you told him gently. “Here, with me, it’s simple.”
His lips quirked. “Simple,” he repeated, as if tasting the word for the first time.
He leaned forward, his lips brushing against yours. His kiss was desperate, born of years of holding back. In that moment, you knew he had been waiting for this... waiting for you.
When he pulled back, his forehead pressed against yours. “I’ve never allowed myself to want,” he whispered. “But I want you. More than I should.”
Your heart beat wildly as you cupped his jaw, your thumb brushing his skin. “Then don’t stop,” you whispered. “Don’t let them take this from us.”
For once, Regulus didn’t argue. He kissed you again, and you believed in the two of you.
You hadn't meant to find it.
The letter was tucked neatly among Regulus’s papers. Your hand shook as you opened it, and you felt a pit form in your stomach even before your eyes reached the words.
And then you read them...
An engagement. Regulus was betrothed to a pure-bIood daughter from another wealthy family.
The words swam before your eyes, your breath hitched, and suddenly every moment you had spent with him - every whispered confession in the garden, every kiss that had felt like a promise - turned into something meaningless.
When Regulus entered the room, he froze at the sight of the parchment in your hands. His face remained perfectly composed, but his eyes flickered, and in that flicker, you saw it... he already knew what you were holding.
“How long?” Your voice cracked. “How long have you known you were engaged while you’ve been here, with me?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he closed the door, and when he finally looked at you, his expression was unreadable.
“You shouldn’t have gone through my things,” he said evenly.
Your breath caught and a bitter laugh escaped your lips. “That’s what you care about? That I found out your little secret? Not the fact that you’ve been lying to me this whole time?”
He stepped closer. “It isn’t a secret. It’s my duty. This is who I am, who I was always meant to be. Did you truly think…” His gaze swept over you, “…that you were ever meant to be part of this?”
The words struck harder than any curse. “So what was I, then?” you demanded, your hands trembling as you crumpled the letter in your fist. “A distraction? A game? Something to fill the time until your perfect match arrived?”
His jaw clenched and, for a moment, you thought he might deny it, trying to salvage what you had shared. Instead, his eyes hardened. “You don’t belong in my world,” he said quietly. “You are… unworthy of it. My family would never accept you. You knew this.”
“Unworthy,” you whispered. “After everything we shared, after every lie you fed me, that’s what you call me?”
“I never lied,” he said. “I care for you. But caring isn’t enough. It never was. My family’s legacy cannot be risked for…” He trailed off, his mouth hardening into a thin line. “For you.”