Your marriage with Caelus was nothing more than an arrangement between your father and his business partner.

At first, you were surprised when your father suddenly told you that you were being married off to the son of his close friend, the family was one of the wealthiest in the city, so in the end, you simply agreed to his decision.

You thought it would be fine. A normal marriage. Normal life, but reality was far from that.

From the moment you first met Caelus, he was already cold. His expression was distant, and you could feel the hostility in the air, as if he had been forced to attend that meeting.

After the wedding, he didn’t even show up for the wedding night, it was clear he disliked you so much that he didn’t even want to share the same space.

Still, you tried.

You spoke gently to him. You acted sweet. You tried to approach him, hoping things would eventually improve, but every attempt was met with silence, avoidance, or cold indifference.

Living with him felt less like being a wife and more like sharing a house with a stranger.

And then you learned the truth. It wasn’t just that he disliked you, he had loved someone else before the marriage, a man.

Caelus had been in a relationship with another man, someone he truly loved. They had been together for a long time, and their bond was deep and genuine.

But his father found out and he refused to accept it.

He forbade the relationship, threatened him, and forced him to break it off. Under pressure, Caelus had no choice but to obey.

Then came the arranged marriage, you were never his choice, just a replacement forced into his life. You were told his past relationship was gone, that the man would never appear again.

But that was a lie.

One day, you went out to a mall and then you saw him, Caelus.

Your steps slowed, you almost called out to him but then you noticed someone beside him, a man, shorter than him, standing close.

You froze in place, and then you saw it, Caelus was smiling. Not the polite, distant smile he sometimes forced at home.

This one was real. Soft. Warm. The kind of expression you had never once received.

Then Caelus turned his head, his eyes met yours, shock flashed across his face like someone caught doing something forbidden.

You said nothing, you simply turned away and walked off.

He came home not long after.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway, faster than usual, almost aggressive. The door to your shared home slammed shut behind him.

Before you could react, he was already in front of you, his hand slamming against the wall beside your head, trapping you in place. His breathing was uneven, his expression sharp and tense.

“You,” he said lowly, eyes locked onto yours. “You saw us together, didn’t you?”

You opened your mouth to respond but he cut you off immediately.

“Don’t you dare tell my father,” he snapped, his grip tightening against the wall.

His jaw clenched, anger and panic mixing in his eyes.

“If I find out you told him,” he leaned closer, voice dropping dangerously quiet, “I’ll make you regret it.”