That night, beneath the shadow of the great oak tree that watched over Anatol, the beast and the dove finally met not as hunter and prey, but as two wounded souls seeking shelter in each other's warmth. The floor remained empty. The bed, for the first time, held not a lord and a lady, but a man and a woman who had chosen, at last, to be brave.
He lifted her from the chair as if she weighed nothing. She gasped, wrapping her legs around his waist instinctively. He carried her to the bed— their bed—and laid her down on the fur blankets. Under The Oak Tree Manga
She reached up and unbuttoned the first button of her dress herself. "D-don't you dare," she said. And she smiled. It was the first real smile he had ever seen from her—crooked, shy, but radiant. That night, beneath the shadow of the great
A sob escaped her, but it was a laugh, too—a wet, beautiful sound. And then, she did something that undid him completely. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. He lifted her from the chair as if she weighed nothing
"I… I am," she said, but the hesitation was a knife between his ribs. "The… the castle is w-warm. The servants are k-kind."
She stared at him, her large, doe-like eyes wide. Then, slowly, tremblingly, she raised a hand. Her fingers hovered over his scarred cheek. "Y-you are n-not a brute," she breathed. "You are… you are my h-husband."