The Bride He Hates-Chapter 102: Peace Or Passion

Three weeks later, after completing the integration work, Lyanna returned to Valdris. She wanted a break. The constant work was exhausting especially given her fragile mental state, which seemed to be deteriorating by the day.

She was walking in the gardens at night when Roland called her from behind.

"Lyanna! May I join you?"

"Of course."

They walked in silence.

"Lyanna." He said, stopping near a stone bench overlooking the valley. "I want to tell you something."

Lyanna turned to look at him, a little surprised by the seriousness of his tone.

"These past weeks, watching you here...seeing you smile, seeing you work..." He paused and gently took her hand. "I’ve developed feelings for you."

Lyanna’s breath caught.

"I know you’re married." Roland said quickly. "I know it’s impossible and this is terrible timing. But I can’t stop myself. If you ever decide to stay here permanently, to leave that life behind, to end your marriage and build something new. I would cherish you.

There will be no politics, no pressure, and no duties. Just us. You could have the life you deserved before Azrael married you forcefully."

"Roland..."

"Don’t answer now. Don’t rush. I want you to seriously think about it." He squeezed her hand, then let go.

He walked back towards the main house, leaving her alone in the garden. Lyanna sat on the bench and stared at the valley.

Roland loves me? He wants to marry me?

Roland was offering her everything she had always wanted in her marriage.

So why did the thought of staying here, far from Azrael permanently, felt like suffocation?

That night, Lyanna lay in bed and thought about Roland’s offer.

Roland was kind and respectful. He valued her work and her compassion. He would never call her reckless, emotional or too human. She knew life with him would be peaceful with no politics, no council pressure, and no power games.

But she didn’t love him. She loved Azrael.

The thought of him alone in that castle made her heart ache. She missed his touch, his voice, the way he looked at her with raw intensity.

But going back meant returning to a life where she lost pieces of herself, where her compassion was seen as weakness, and where she had to constantly prove she was a vampire.

She got up and sat at her desk in her room.

What do I actually want?

She wanted to be valued for who she was, not who she could become. She wanted partnership, not hierarchy. She wanted someone who saw her compassion as strength, not a weakness.

Roland offered her all that. But again, he wasn’t Azrael.

I’m an idiot. Roland is offering me everything I’ve always wanted, and I still want the man who hurt me.

She took out a paper and started writing a letter to herself.

I am standing at a crossroads. One path leads back to pain, passion and a love that nearly destroyed me. The other leads forward to peace, kindness and a love that could heal me.

The choice should be obvious. But my heart doesn’t care about what’s obvious. It wants the complicated path. It wants the man who challenges me even when it hurts.

Maybe I’m addicted to pain or maybe there’s a difference between love that’s easy and love that’s worth fighting for.

Azrael and I challenge each other, push each other and make each other better, even when we make each other crazy.

I don’t know what to choose. But I know that whatever I choose, someone’s heart will break.

Meanwhile, at Thornfield, Azrael sat alone in his study. He was holding a wine glass in his one hand and a small dried flower, pressed between the pages to a book months ago, in another. Lyanna had given it to him when they were happy together.

"I know it’s ridiculous, but it made me think of you. It is beautiful but it has thorns." Lyanna had said, laughing.

He had kept it hidden in a book so no one would see it. Sometimes he took it out sometimes when she wasn’t looking, trying to understand why a simple flower made him so happy. But now it made him feel empty.

Adrian entered the study again, without knocking.

"Your Majesty, there’s news from Valdris."

Azrael’s head snapped up.

"What happened?"

"Ambassador Roland has contacted several vampire courts. He is petitioning for formal recognition of his courtship of Her Majesty."

It took a whole minute for Azrael to understand his words.

"Courtship?" Azrael repeated.

"He wants the approval of vampire society to court a married vampire queen." Adrian said.

The wine glass in Azrael’s hand shattered.

"He’s going to marry her?" Azrael asked.

"Not yet." Adrian replied. "But he’s laying the groundwork. If you want her back, you’re running out of time. Moreover, it has been a long time, since she had left, vampire law would see it as abandonment of the marriage."

Azrael stared at the blood on his hand from the broken glass. He didn’t feel the pain. He only felt the crushing weight of what he might lose.

"What do I do?" He asked in panic, despite never asking Adrian for personal advice before.

"Something you’ve never done before." Adrian replied. "Beg."

Azrael immediately wrote a letter to Lyanna.

Lyanna,

I have no right to ask anything of you. I shouldn’t even be writing this letter. But I’m writing it anyway.

I love you, Lyanna. I love you so much. I’m willing to beg, if you want me to. But please meet me once. I know you asked for space, but I can’t help it anymore.

If you want to choose Roland, want to choose peace and simplicity, I will not interfere. You deserve happiness, even if it’s not with me.

But if there’s any part of you that still loves me, I’m waiting. I will always be waiting.

I love you. I know I should have said it more and should have shown it in my actions. I’m sorry, for everything.

I’ll be forever yours, even if you’re no longer mine.

Azrael.

He sent it with his fastest messenger and waited for the response. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

That evening, Roland also wrote a letter to Lyanna.

Lyanna,

These weeks with you have been the happiest of my life. You bring light to every room, compassion to every interaction, and hope to a world that desperately needs it.

I meant every word I said in the garden. I’m not a vampire. I can’t offer you eternity or power. I can’t promise you centuries of love because I’m human and mortal, and I’ll grow old while you stay young.

But I can give you peace, respect and partnership without any expectations. I can give you a life where you don’t have to choose between being kind and being strong, where you can be exactly who you are.

I would be honoured to spend the rest of my life making you happy.

The choice is yours. I won’t pressure you. But know that if you choose me, I will spend every day proving I was worthy of that choice.

Roland.

He delivered the letter personally, placing the letter quietly on her desk.