Hearing the amount of staff members express their condolences for what I had endured while being captured was… a shock.
I hadn’t known they would be this supportive of my recovery. What shocked me even more was learning they had been quietly paying for the nurse assisting me in the nursery—along with Madam Selene.
Madam Selene.
Her new title still takes my breath away. Even now, I must pause to steady myself, reminding my heart that she has built a life… without me in it.
Today, for the first time in weeks, I had finally gathered enough strength to return to my shop. As I prepared myself, I took a sheet of parchment to write a letter to Madam Rose.
She had left earlier this morning with those who would be residing in her estate, accompanied by her husband—who, she told me during my re
