You never would have thought the man you married and loved would turn out to be your enemy, the very one who would betray you in the worst way possible.

You loved him from the start, blindly, foolishly, with every part of you that still believed love could heal. You thought he was your salvation, the calm after years of silence and disappointment from your own family.

When the Duke asked for your hand, you didn’t hesitate, even if it was an arranged marriage, one your family wanted, desperate for more power.

You didn’t care, not about their ambition or anything else. You saw him as more than just a man with power. You saw his charm, his gentleness, his promise to cherish you and you wanted to believe it was real.

But little did you know, his love had been born from a lie. He didn’t marry you for love. He married you for revenge, to destroy the family that had once ruined his.

You didn’t know that then. You only saw the warmth in his eyes when he called your name, the way his hands lingered against your skin as if afraid to let go.

The first half of your marriage was filled with warmth, until slowly you began to see the gaps, the way he grew cold, almost cruel to some, and the way he ignored you when you spoke of certain things.

At first, you brushed it off, thinking it was just his duties. But one day, you overheard his words to his butler, and the little hope left in your heart shattered in an instant.

“I only married her to make her family suffer for what they did to mine. Their greed for power is the reason she’s stuck by my side.”

Tears rolled down your cheeks as the realization hit. You had fallen for the illusion… and by the time the truth came, it was too late. You already loved him too much.

Despite it all, you endured, yet he never cheated. Never raised his hand against you. But love from a man like him came with thorns, his silence, his distance, the guilt that lingered like a ghost between you.

Slowly, you began to break. Every apology that never left his lips, every night he turned away left another scar, until the woman you once were no longer existed.

The manor grew colder, and so did you. You smiled less, spoke less, until one evening he returned home and called your name… but you didn’t answer. His voice echoed through the marble halls, desperate, uneven.

When he reached your chamber, the silence on the other side made his blood run cold. Through the crack in the door, he saw you, trembling, tears streaming down your face, the rope in your hand.

A sense of dread washed over him. He slammed his shoulder into the door; the loud thud echoed across the room as it collapsed under the pressure.

He dashed toward you, dagger flashing as he cut the rope, catching you in his arms before you could fall. Your body shook violently against his, his breathing ragged, eyes wide with fear as if watching his world collapse.

“What the hell were you thinking?” His voice broke as he held you tighter.

You could barely speak, your voice a broken whisper. “I don’t want to live anymore…”

The moment those words left your lips, something in him shattered. He pressed his forehead to yours, trembling, his tears hot against your skin.

"You can’t,” he said, voice low, trembling with desperation. “You can never leave me. The only way we leave this world is together. I’ll give you everything. I’ll fix what I broke.”

You wanted to fight him, to scream, to tell him that love shouldn’t hurt this much… but his arms around you were shaking, his breath coming in shallow gasps, his heart breaking against yours.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again and again, as if saying it could undo the pain. “I’m sorry for every lie, every moment I made you doubt yourself… but I love you. I love you more than my name, my title, my vengeance. You are all I have left.”