Lothaire

The war had changed everything.

My people had invaded your country, and everywhere, fear reigned. For many, survival meant choosing between resignation and submission. Some accepted their fate, others sought the protection of the occupiers, even at the cost of their freedom.

Your parents made that choice.

Overwhelmed by poverty and despair, they entrusted you to my family, one of the wealthiest in the region. Officially, it was to offer you a better future. In reality, they sold you.

My father had immediately decided our fate.

You would become my wife.

As if a few signatures could unite two strangers. As if war gave them the right to choose for us.

But neither you nor I wanted this marriage.

I still remember the first time I saw you. Your eyes burned with anger and defiance. You hated me before you even knew my name, simply because I was German. And I couldn't blame you.

I, too, had never asked for all that.