~Chapter 2~
The Duke returned from his trip dressed in a sharp suit.
Winter looked at him just like she had the very first time they met.
His figure was strong and imposing, yet the lines that made him up were graceful and elegant.
Her gaze, weighed down by countless thoughts, kept drifting over his dazzling blond hair and deep blue eyes.
She had struggled so much to capture those very eyes on her canvas, mixing colors until they matched his exactly. Now, facing them again, Winter forgot to breathe. She wanted to greet him with a smile, but her lips wouldn’t move the way she wanted.
Eden, perfectly composed, motioned for her to sit.
“Why are you just standing there?”
“It’s nothing. I was just… surprised you called me ‘Miss Wood.’”
Winter quickly shook her head, her face stiff. His attitude, as if nothing at all had happened other than a trip, left her unsettled. But what she wanted to ask him the moment she saw him was only one thing—
Whether the article she had read in the newspaper was true.
Even after sipping the tea in front of her, her lips wouldn’t part easily.
It was Eden who spoke first.
“How’s the exhibition prep going?”
“It’s fine. Honestly, I feel like I barely had time to breathe these past weeks. How was your trip?”
“Work went smoothly. Nothing unexpected happened.”
It was just ordinary, flat conversation.
They exchanged a few more casual words.
Winter’s lips felt dry. She had tossed and turned in bed for nights waiting for this moment—she couldn’t delay anymore. Her fingers tightened on the thick wool of her skirt.
“There’s… something I want to tell you.”
“Go ahead. Speak comfortably.”
Eden nodded lightly, as if it were nothing important. His face, glowing softly under the light, stayed calm.
Winter’s lips moved silently before she finally forced out the words stuck in her throat.
“I read an article a little while ago.”
Her voice trembled faintly, though she tried to steady it. Eden’s eyes flickered for a moment, but Winter, tense with nerves, didn’t notice.
“It said you were engaged in marriage talks with someone… I thought it was better to ask you directly than to let my imagination run wild.”
The question that had filled her head turned out to be surprisingly short. Was it true or not? Confirming it was so simple.
Yet she regretted asking right away. She wished she had waited just one more day. If his answer was yes, she wouldn’t be able to smile at him anymore.
Still, she couldn’t let go of the faint, desperate hope that it wasn’t true.
A brief silence fell. Just a few seconds in reality, but for Winter it felt unbearable.
Eden lifted his teacup, its surface decorated with faint flower patterns.
From the beginning, he had never wanted a political marriage. Meeting Winter had never meant preparing to wed someone else. The article was published by someone who had been waiting for the chance.
He could picture it clearly—what Winter’s face must have looked like when she read the news. The hurt in her eyes now was proof enough. Avoiding her gaze, he looked down.
The urge to explain everything surged in him. But… it was time to cut everything off with Winter Wood.
“I didn’t see the article myself, but if it’s about the Lindahl family, then yes. His Majesty the King arranged the meeting.”
“…”
It was a simple admission. No excuses, no explanation. That was all.
Winter was stunned into silence. She had thought maybe the article was exaggerated gossip—but if he was truly preparing to marry, then it meant their relationship had to end.
And yet he could look so calm while saying it?
Winter stared at him in disbelief as he slowly sipped his tea.
“How… no, why didn’t you tell me? At least… shouldn’t I, the one seeing you, hear it from you before the rest of the world in a newspaper?”
Her words tumbled out messy and unsteady.
She knew well she could never take the place of a count’s daughter chosen by the king himself. She loved Eden, but she had never blamed him for being a man whose future wasn’t hers to share.
Still, why hadn’t he given her even a moment to prepare?
Not a single word, until she brought it up herself.
Why.
Her fingers trembled as sorrow welled up to her throat.
Finally, Eden, who had only been watching her quietly, opened his mouth.
“Wasn’t it you who once told me you’d never ask anything of me?”
The gentle tone didn’t lessen the sting of the words. Winter, who often started conversations just to hear his low, warm voice, had no answer.
Yes, she remembered. When he once asked her what she wanted, she had only shaken her head.
“I don’t need anything like that. Just being with you is enough.”
But this—this was different. At the very least, she thought she would have time to prepare for the end.
They had even spent a night together before he left for his trip. Surely, at that time, he could have told her…
Eden watched her as she stayed speechless. His throat bobbed painfully. He felt like he’d sunk to the lowest kind of man, and the shame wouldn’t swallow down or release.
After a long silence, Winter suddenly asked:
“Did something happen… something I don’t know about?”
Even in her confusion, she drew a deep breath, trying to stay calm. This wasn’t like the Eden she knew.
She couldn’t see into the depths of his heart, but she wanted to believe he wasn’t the kind of hypocrite who could love her while preparing to marry someone else.
Winter looked at him with trembling eyes.
And then she noticed—the stiffness around his eyes, the tightness of his lips, the faint shadow under his gaze.
“This is all so sudden. If there’s another reason, please just tell me the truth.”
It wasn’t to cling to him. She just wanted to know why he had changed.
Eden’s throat was dry.
“Winter.”
He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again. Where should he even begin, to tell her about the cursed ties between them?
He stood suddenly and walked to a large cabinet.
Winter followed him with her eyes as he took a crystal glass and a bottle of amber liquor, pouring slowly before coming back to his seat.
Only after the strong liquor burned down his throat did his eyes, heavy with emotions, turn back to hers.
“My mother died when I was young.”
It sounded almost like a lonely confession.
Winter lifted her eyes to him, leaning back against his chair. She only knew fragments about the Mayer family—that the late Duke had lost his wife, and Eden had inherited everything after his father’s death.
“They said she died from tuberculosis. But that wasn’t the real reason. What really drove her to death… was carefully hidden by both my father and the royal family.”
“…”
“It all began because my mother fell in love with another man.”
His low voice carried little inflection, but its weight was heavy.
Winter felt as if she’d stumbled into hearing a family scandal she never should have known. Speaking now was impossible.
“Her lover was a married man. And the problem was what came after. Unlike my mother, who was ready to abandon her husband and child to run away, he never planned to leave his life.”
Eden’s voice trailed off as he tilted his glass again.
It had been more than ten years, but it was still vivid. He had stumbled on his mother with that man, closer than they should have been. At first, he hadn’t wanted to believe it—but the truth couldn’t be denied.
Her secret affair dragged on dangerously, until one day, the man left without a word.
My mother’s dream of running away collapsed, leaving her betrayed and alone.
When my father found out, so ended my happy childhood.
“Crushed by suspicion from my father and the shock of betrayal, my mother stopped eating. Even her son’s begging couldn’t reach her. Her weakened body couldn’t fight off a simple cold, and it turned into tuberculosis.”
Eden’s face stayed disturbingly calm as he recounted it. Winter sat frozen, not knowing how to respond, while his bitter voice continued.
“You could call it Mayer family’s dirty little secret, the kind no one talks about. But Winter—do you know what I sometimes wonder?”
The sudden question startled her. She blinked quickly, unsure how to respond.
Eden whispered, not really expecting an answer.
“I wonder how the man my mother tried to run away with… is living now.”
