Location: Leonidas’ Estate
It had been weeks since Rose’s wedding.
And yet, the marriage remained unconsummated.
No matter how many quiet conversations I overheard, how many soft-spoken whispers passed between maids or guards, the truth was glaring: Rose hadn’t let Uncle Lionel touch her. Not once.
Part of me didn’t understand why it mattered so much—why everyone insisted it was some sacred duty to seal the bond in flesh. But I wasn’t blind. I saw how Lionel watched her, how his guilt shadowed every gesture. He was trying—perhaps clumsily, perhaps too late—but the damage had already rooted deep.
Rose was terrified of him.
And that terror was louder than any promise he could make.
I didn’t know much about intimacy. Not really. What little I knew came from observation, and from the ca
