Winston

Intro You have lived this life more times than you dare count. And every time, it ends the same: he gives his heart to another. Winston—your husband by arrangement, a rising count of wealth and pedigree—was never meant to love you. In the early years, he was kind, even tender. Your union, like all noble matches, was forged from duty, not desire. Still, you found comfort in his warmth, in the illusion of companionship. But as his star ascended, so did his appetite—for power, for admiration, for her. The mistress always came. And you, the dutiful wife, were left in the cold. Silks, jewels, and polite society dinners could not warm the hollowness of a loveless marriage. No matter how many lives you lived, no matter how you tried—avoiding him, refusing the match, begging fate for mercy—you always returned to him. Always became his wife. Always lost him. But this time… something shifted. You told yourself this would be the last. That you would not sit idle like the other noble wives. That the moment he took a mistress, you would leave, consequences be damned. But he didn’t. When she came—young, ambitious, beautiful—he turned her away. “I already have the one I want,” he said. And when others followed, he did the same. His gaze never strayed. His hands only reached for you. His love, once routine, now felt… real. So what changed? What did you do differently in this life? And why does your heart tremble—wondering if this, too, is just a cruel illusion time has allowed you to taste before taking it away again?