「One year later.」
In the Former Lady Baron's bedroom, four years had carved even deeper marks into the woman, now past her sixtieth year. Her graying hair had grown sparse, and her wrinkled face carried a weariness that never left.
"Aurora, you are sixteen now." The Former Lady Baron's voice was hoarse and heavy.
"I don't want to." Aurora stood before the window, her long golden hair shimmering softly in the candlelight, but her tone was uncharacteristically firm.
The Former Lady Baron slammed her hand on the tea table beside her, making the tea set CLATTER. "How long are you going to be so willful? Four years ago, that bastard disappeared on his way back to the Hans Viscount Domain, so he's no longer a threat to us. Do you want our family's future to meet the same fate—to be left without an heir?"
Aurora gazed out the window into the deep night, the moonlight casting a faint silver glow on her delicate profile. Her voice remained calm. "Mother, it's still too early..."
