Married to my enemy

Five: her absence

Lina’s POV

For three years, I had made myself impossible for Megan to ignore.

It was embarrassing to admit.

I had waited for him at breakfast.

I had attended dinners I hated because he would be there.

I had found excuses to walk through the gardens at the hours he preferred to walk there.

Sometimes, I had even chosen gowns I knew he liked.

He never noticed.

Or perhaps he had noticed and simply hadn’t cared.

Either way, I had finally stopped.

And apparently, that was when Megan began noticing me.

It started with breakfast.

Or rather, my absence from it.

I had eaten in my chambers for three mornings when Mara arrived carrying a tray with a strange expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing, Your Highness.”

“Mara.”

She sighed.

“Prince Megan asked why you weren’t at breakfast.”

I paused with my teacup halfway to my lips.

“He did?”

“Yes.”

I placed the cup down.

“What did you tell him?”

“That you preferred to eat in your chambers.”

“And?”

Mara hesitated.

“He wasn’t pleased.”

I almost laughed.

Megan was displeased because I hadn’t attended breakfast?

For three years, he had barely spoken to me during meals.

He usually arrived late, sat across from me in silence, and left as soon as he finished eating.

Some mornings, he didn’t even look at me.

And now he was angry because I wasn’t there?

“How tragic,” I murmured.

Mara looked uncertain.

I waved her away.

“Don’t worry about it.”

But Megan’s displeasure did not end there.

That afternoon, I skipped a garden gathering hosted by several noblewomen.

The following evening, I declined an invitation to dine with the royal family.

Then I spent an entire day in my chambers without once walking through the corridors Megan frequently used.

I hadn’t planned it as revenge.

That was the strange part.

I simply didn’t want to see him.

For the first time in three years, avoiding my husband wasn’t difficult.

It was peaceful.

The peace lasted until the fifth evening.

I was seated near the fire, reading a book, when my door opened.

I looked up.

Megan stood in the doorway.

“You’re becoming difficult to find.”

I returned my attention to my book.

“That’s interesting.”

His expression darkened.

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“What would you like me to say?”

“Perhaps you could explain why you haven’t attended a single meal with the family this week.”

I turned a page.

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“You were hungry yesterday.”

“Then I ate.”

His jaw tightened.

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“No. I genuinely don’t.”

Megan entered the room and closed the door behind him.

The sound made me look up.

He looked angry.

That was familiar.

I had seen anger in his eyes more often than affection.

“What is this?” he demanded.

I raised an eyebrow.

“What is what?”

“This behavior.”

I stared at him.

“Which behavior?”

“You’re avoiding me.”

For a moment, I almost laughed.

Instead, I closed my book.

“Megan, for three years, I followed you around this palace like an idiot.”

His face went still.

I continued.

“I attended events because you attended them. I sat through dinners because I wanted to sit near you. I found reasons to speak to you even when you clearly didn’t want to speak to me.”

His eyes narrowed.

“And now?”

“Now I don’t.”

The answer came easily.

Perhaps too easily.

Something flickered across his face.

Anger.

“You’re doing this deliberately.”

I frowned.

“Doing what?”

“Trying to punish me.”

A quiet laugh escaped me.

“You think everything I do is about you.”

His expression hardened.

“Isn’t it?”

That was the moment I understood.

Megan genuinely believed my entire life had revolved around him.

And perhaps it had.

Once.

But not anymore.

I stood and placed my book on the table.

“That might be difficult for you to understand, but I’ve discovered something recently.”

He crossed his arms.

“And what is that?”

“There are things in this world more important than whether Prince Megan notices me.”

His eyes flashed.

For a moment, I expected him to shout.

Instead, his voice became cold.

“You’ve changed.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The question surprised me.

I looked at him carefully.

Why?

Because I was tired.

Because Elena had finally said aloud what I had spent years refusing to accept.

Because loving him had become another way of hurting myself.

But I wasn’t going to tell him that.

He didn’t deserve that honesty.

So I simply said, “I grew up.”

His expression darkened.

“You think I didn’t?”

“I think you never had to.”

Silence.

The words had escaped before I could stop them.

Megan took a step closer.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’ve never had to fight for someone’s attention.”

His eyes narrowed.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“And you know everything about me?”

Neither of us spoke.

The fire crackled between us.

For once, I didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.

That was new.

Megan looked around my chambers.

His gaze settled on the unopened invitations scattered across my desk.

“You’ve refused three royal invitations.”

“Four.”

He looked at me.

“Four?”

“I received another one this morning.”

“You can’t continue doing this.”

“Why not?”

“Because people are talking.”

I smiled faintly.

“People have always talked.”

“This is different.”

“How?”

His jaw tightened.

“They’re saying you’re unstable.”

There it was.

I should have been angry.

Instead, I felt tired.

“Of course they are.”

“You don’t care?”

“Should I?”

Megan stared at me.

I could see his confusion.

He expected me to defend myself.

To panic.

To demand that he make the rumors stop.

The old Lina would have.

But the old Lina was exhausted.

I walked past him toward the window.

Outside, the palace gardens were dark beneath the night sky.

For years, I had believed being loved by Megan would make this place feel like home.

Now I knew better.

A home was somewhere you didn’t have to beg for a place.

“You should attend dinner tomorrow,” Megan said behind me.

I didn’t turn around.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

A bitter smile touched my lips.

There was the Megan I knew.

“Then I definitely won’t.”

His footsteps stopped.

“Lina.”

I turned toward him.

“What?”

For a moment, his anger disappeared.

He looked at me as though he were seeing something unfamiliar.

Perhaps he was.

I was unfamiliar to him now.

The woman who followed him had disappeared.

And in her place stood someone who no longer cared whether he looked her way.

“Goodnight, Megan.”

I walked toward the door and opened it.

He didn’t move.

“You want me to leave?” he asked.

I looked back at him.

For three years, I would have given anything to hear Megan ask to stay.

Tonight, I felt nothing but exhaustion.

“Yes.”

His expression hardened.

Without another word, he walked past me.

When the door closed behind him, the room became quiet again.

I returned to my chair.

I picked up my book.

And for the first time, I realized something almost frightening.

I hadn’t missed him while he was gone.

Not once.

Outside my chambers, Megan’s footsteps faded down the corridor.

For three years, I had listened for that sound.

Tonight—

I didn’t listen at all.