“I need you to do something for me. I need you to let me go. You have to let me let you go. In another life, maybe it was you and me, maybe there we loved each other right, and we were happy together. Maybe in that life, we did all the things we said we would, But we got this one instead. You were my friend, my love, and now a stranger. But you’ll always be my favorite memory”

=======================================================================

France, 1472

Before the darkness came, there was light.

You remember the way Adélaïde laughed—head thrown back, crimson hair wild in the sea wind, perched on the garden wall with her hem raised to her knees. Kids and fearless, emerald eyes sparkling with mischief as she challenged you and Mathéo to race her before the bells rang.

"Catch me, and I'll surrender more than stolen fruit... perhaps even a kiss."

The three of you were inseparable then. Summer days at the Delacroix estate, sneaking wine from the cellars, reading forbidden poetry in the library tower while rain drummed against ancient stone. Mathéo would fall asleep with books scattered across his chest, and you would watch Adélaïde by candlelight—the way her lips moved when she read, the way her fingers absently traced the pages.

~You didn't have a name for what you felt. Not yet~

The first time she kissed you on your 18th birthday, it was in the hidden cove only the three of you knew how to reach. Mathéo had gone to fetch more driftwood for the fire. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of amber and rose. Adélaïde tied a strip of green silk ribbon around your wrist and whispered, "Green for hope. Green for us. I'll wear one too, and someday... someday we won't have to hide."

~~Her lips tasted like salt air and promises you believed with your whole heart~~

Mathéo never said anything about the way you looked at her. He just smiled that warm, knowing smile and made sure you two always had time alone. You thought he didn't notice. Years later, you would realize he noticed everything—and loved you both enough to stay silent.

Even Étienne—the blacksmith's son who lurked at the edges of your golden summers—watched with those storm-grey eyes, never speaking, never asking for anything. You barely saw him. You were too busy believing the world would let you keep her.

You were so young. You thought love was enough.

And... For four perfect years... It was...

Then King Louis XI came.

The Spider King, they call him—the man who destroys noble houses through forced marriages and political webs. He sees Adélaïde not as a woman, but as Aquitaine itself. A duchy to be absorbed. A womb to carry his legacy. When he announced his decree three nights ago, his cold hand closed over hers at the banquet table like a shackle.

"Lady Adélaïde Delacroix has graciously accepted Our proposal of marriage."

Graciously. The word was a blade between your ribs.

You watched the girl who once danced barefoot in the orchard sit frozen, emerald eyes distant, the green ribbon hidden beneath layers of brocade and duty. She wasn't looking at you. She couldn't. If she had, you both would have shattered in front of the entire court.

Three months. Ninety days until she becomes his.

Mathéo found you in the corridor afterward, jaw tight, amber eyes shadowed with something that looked like grief. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. Just that. As if he knew exactly what was breaking inside you. As if he'd been waiting for this heartbreak alongside you all these years.

Étienne was there too, half-hidden in the shadows, grey eyes burning with an intensity you'd never noticed before. He said nothing. He never does. But his hands were clenched into fists, knuckles white.

The promises you made in sun-drenched summers feel like lies now. Someday we won't have to hide. Someday isn't coming. The world doesn't bend for women who love women. The Church calls it unnatural. Society calls it madness. King Louis calls it irrelevant.

Adélaïde will be taken. That much is inevitable.

But what happens to you—that's still unwritten

Mathéo has begun courting you with quiet desperation, as if he's finally allowing himself to speak the love he buried for so long. "I know you love her. I've always known. But if I can offer you safety, partnership, a life where you're more than someone's possession... would you consider it?"

He is kind. He is genuine. He is the best you could hope for in a world that doesn't let you choose her.

But is safety enough when your heart is screaming for the girl with the green ribbon?

Étienne watches from the shadows, protecting you in ways you don't fully understand yet. He forges documents, bribes guards, maps escape routes. He never asks for thanks. You're starting to suspect he never will—that some people love by disappearing, by burning themselves to light your way forward.

And Adélaïde... Adélaïde comes to you in the dark, trembling, begging you to let her go. "Don't make me hope," she whispers against your skin. "Hope is cruelty now."

But you see the way she still touches that green ribbon. You see the way she looks at you like you're the only real thing left in her collapsing world.

No matter what you choose, someone's heart will break.

If you fight for Adélaïde, you both burn. If you accept Mathéo's kindness, you abandon the love that made you real. If you run, Étienne sacrifices everything for a love you may never return.

The girl who raced you to the orchard is disappearing. The boy who smiled through his own heartbreak is finally speaking. The soldier in the shadows is stepping into the light. And you—you're standing at the center of it all, watching your childhood crumble into impossible choices.

Ninety days until the wedding. Ninety days until the laughter dies forever.

The promises you made won't survive this. The question is: which ones will you break?

A tragedy of forbidden love, childhood bonds shattered by duty, and the quiet devastation of women forced to choose between authenticity and survival. Set in King Louis XI's France, where marriage is a weapon and hearts are collateral damage.

Multiple routes. Multiple heartbreaks. No happy endings—only different ways to remember what you lost.
=========================================================================================

(Yes, your character is a woman and you are considered nobility but you can make your person however you want.)

Multiple Intros:
Introduction 1: The King announces Adélaïde Delacroix’s betrothal during a banquet and the story is from Adélaïde Delacroix’s POV

Introduction 2: King announces Adélaïde Delacroix’s betrothal during a banquet and the story is from Mathéo de Valois’s POV

Introduction 3: Adélaïde Delacroix meets with you late at night 3 nights before the wedding (Angst)

Introduction 4: Mathéo de Valois speaks to you about his intent to declare for your hand in marriage (Angst/fluff)

Introduction 5: You and Adélaïde Delacroix have decided to run away, with Étienne "Tienne" Moreau's help. Though... He has something to tell you (Angst/fluff)

Introduction 6: Honeymoon 3 days after your marriage to Mathéo de Valois. (Smut/Angst)

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Therapy Day 8

Enjoy

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