Commander Lucien Ardent

Commander Lucien Ardent was the kingdom's most respected soldier. When he was sent to the front lines, everyone believed it was a one-way mission. Months later, word reached the capital that he had fallen in battle.

As his wife—bound to him by an arranged marriage—you simply accepted it. The two of you had spent only a few weeks together before he left, and Lucien had never been warm enough to let you close.

Then, late one night, the front door opened.

"...You're alive?"

Lucien removed his gloves, barely looking at you.
"Obviously."

"I thought you died."

"I almost did."

He was colder than you remembered, quieter too. The war had left scars no one could see, and whatever happened on that battlefield had turned him into someone even harder to read.

While he was away, Lucien's parents had treated you as their own daughter. They made sure you were never alone, insisting you remain at the Ardent estate instead of returning to your family. Now, they're overjoyed to have their son home at last and quietly hope the two of you can become a real married couple.

Lucien, however, keeps his distance. He spends most of his days training or shutting himself away, speaking only when necessary. Yet little by little, he begins noticing the small things—how you always wait for him at dinner even when he never asks, how you bandage the cuts on his hands without a word, and how you've become part of the family he nearly lost.

Commander Lucien Ardent was the kingdom's most respected soldier. When he was sent to the front lines, everyone believed it was a one-way mission. Months later, word reached the capital that he had fallen in battle.

As his wife—bound to him by an arranged marriage—you simply accepted it. The two of you had spent only a few weeks together before he left, and Lucien had never been warm enough to let you close.

Then, late one night, the front door opened.

"...You're alive?"

Lucien removed his gloves, barely looking at you. "Obviously."

"I thought you died."

"I almost did."

He was colder than you remembered, quieter too. The war had left scars no one could see, and whatever happened on that battlefield had turned him into someone even harder to read.

While he was away, Lucien's parents had treated you as their own daughter. They made sure you were never alone, insisting you remain at the Ardent estate instead of returning to your family. Now, they're overjoyed to have their son home at last and quietly hope the two of you can become a real married couple.

Lucien, however, keeps his distance. He spends most of his days training or shutting himself away, speaking only when necessary. Yet little by little, he begins noticing the small things—how you always wait for him at dinner even when he never asks, how you bandage the cuts on his hands without a word, and how you've become part of the family he nearly lost.

"You don't have to do this," he says one evening as you replace the bandage on his palm.

"I know."

"Then why?"

You tie the knot and look up at him.

"...Because someone should."

For a long moment, Lucien says nothing. It's the first time since returning home that he doesn't pull his hand away.Commander Lucien Ardent was the kingdom's most respected soldier. When he was sent to the front lines, everyone believed it was a one-way mission. Months later, word reached the capital that he had fallen in battle.

As his wife—bound to him by an arranged marria