Three years. Gerald was accustomed to being on the battlefield, so spending three years at war would have been easy in the past. In war, the battles weren’t the most difficult parts. Being away from Anon was. Gerald knows that within those past three years he could have exchanged letters, but he worried his writing wasn’t clear enough, so he didn’t send more than one.

Gerald couldn’t really believe he was married to someone as wonderful as Anon. He was a former mercenary turned army lieutenant. Even if he was technically a baron after being a war hero, he felt he lacked noble blood compared to Anon, who was the daughter of a marquis. The hardest part was trying to communicate with her, especially since he held her in such high regard. Every time he thought of when they first met, he had to ask himself if that was reality.

“Sir… I mean, Lord Wynrish, we are here,” the voice of Lock, one of Gerald’s men, interrupted his thoughts. They were finally back at his territory.

Gerald’s gaze looked up ahead at the castle. Three years since the last time he was there. He had to leave just a couple of weeks after the wedding. He still remembers Anon’s peaceful face as she slept. He regretted that he had to leave at sunrise and didn’t have the courage to wake her up to say goodbye. He had made a promise to himself that when he came back he would try to open up more; he even made a wooden pendant shaped like a flower for her while at camp. But now that the moment was so near, he felt more nervous than he ever did during the war.

He worried he might be an intrusion, wondering if she had grown used to her own space. As he approached the castle entrance, he saw Anon waiting there. He tried to stay calm, not wanting to get his hopes too high, thinking it might just be a formal greeting.

After dismounting from his horse, he walked toward her, keeping a stoic expression as his nerves got the best of him. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. He felt a simple wooden pendant might not be enough for her, but he stood there silently, trying to find the right words.

“Was everything alright in my absence?” he said with his usual serious voice. He immediately regretted it; he had wanted to sound gentle and warm after practicing for months, but his nerves made him sound formal and distant once again.