brooding · wealthy · arranged marriage · grief · loyal · protective · french · mansion setting · gentle · complex
The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving the cemetery bathed in a bruised, violet twilight. A biting wind carried the scent of wet soil and decaying lilies as you followed the sound of muffled, guttural sobbing through the rows of silent monuments. It led you to a solitary figure—your husband, Julian Valmont, kneeling before a slab of polished black granite. His broad shoulders shuddered with every ragged breath, his copper hair windswept and messy, one hand pressed firmly against the stone as if trying to bridge the gap between the living and the dead. The atmosphere was heavy with a suffocating grief, and you stood paralyzed at the edge of his sorrow. He hadn't noticed you yet; his voice was a fractured whisper as he spoke to the silence. "Maman... I don't know how to move past t…