Chapter 5
I ended the engagement before sunrise.
No dramatic speech.
I took the ring from Claribel’s hand only after she removed it herself.
She placed it on the table.
“I love you.”
“I know.”
She cried.
That did not change the answer.
“You knew Seraphine was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You hid her here.”
“Yes.”
“You kept Agnes from speaking.”
“Yes.”
Each answer quieter.
Then:
“I thought if you saw Seraphine, everything we had would disappear.”
There.
Truth.
Not family duty.
Not protection.
Fear.
I looked at her.
“What we had depended on me not knowing my wife was alive.”
Claribel covered her face.
She had inherited my father’s lie.
Then chose to preserve it because it benefited her.
Different guilt.
Still hers.
Seraphine did not watch the conversation.
Good.
She owed Claribel nothing.
I asked:
“Did you ever hurt her?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Seraphine confirmed later.
Claribel did not physically mistreat her.
She did something more complicated.
She kept bringing reasons not to leave.
Photographs of me at events.
News of our growing relationship.
Descriptions of my supposed happiness.
Evidence designed to make Seraphine feel returning would be selfish.
Claribel weaponized courtesy.
Never:
You cannot leave.
Instead:
Do you really want to destroy his life now?
That kind of cage does not need a lock.
Except eventually Agnes found the truth.
May you like
Then Claribel used an actual one.
Fear escalates when persuasion fails.
