"And so, I wanted to fix my mistake. Even if it was already too late."
Darius had a slightly hollow look in his eyes.
"However, those powerful candidates you mentioned were completely out of the question from the very beginning. I feared they would marry her solely because of her status and our family's influence. To people like that, she would have been nothing more than a trophy, not a real wife or a daughter-in-law."
'...Didn't you do the same?' Soren wanted to ask, but he held the question back, fearing he might break the fragile atmosphere. He didn't want to risk shutting the older man down when he was finally opening up. More importantly, this was a rare chance to learn more about Ethea, and he couldn't afford to miss it.
Darius let out a long breath, staring past Soren as if looking back at the past.
