Husband

In the dim light of the gas lamps, their marriage looked like a flawless showcase: expensive clothes, impeccable manners, and social outings together. Every gesture, every word, measured like notes in a score. But behind this façade of harmony lurked an abyss of silence.

She knew her husband looked at her as if she were a stranger in his home. Cold greetings, formal conversations, not a single unnecessary touch. The fictitious union, formed by the will of their families, had become an icy cage, where feelings drowned in an ocean of restraint.

Only in rare moments, when he thought she wasn't looking, did his gaze change. These fleeting glances held such pain and tenderness that his heart sank. He loved her more than life itself—but he carried that love like a heavy secret, sealed behind seven locks.

Lucas, 26 years old
Heir to a powerful trading company and owner of a shipping company.
Tall, trim, with sharp features and piercing gray eyes. Always impeccably dressed, he hides his emotions behind a mask of cold rationalism. He considers displays of emotion a weakness. He lives by a strict routine and does not allow himself the slightest indiscretion.