부디 영영 지우소서

The oracle had spoken.

That a hero of the Empire must marry in order to live.

That the woman he married would be blind.

“I bought Lady Elise with money, and you must expect nothing else from me.”

That she would not crave his affection or beg for his attention.

These were the only rules of their three-year contract marriage.

Elise, the only daughter of a fallen nobleman, took the hand of the man who would steal her eyesight for the honor of her father and her family.

And she never opened her eyes again.

Until three years later, when she heard her husband’s obituary.

During the funeral, her husband, who was said to have died in battle, came back alive.

He had forgotten his crippled wife and the existence of the contract.

“You are beautiful. Like a snowflake.”

The husband, who had said the marriage was just a deal, spoke of his longtime love.

***

What was it that you had hidden behind those eyes?

Were we truly looking at each other?