CHAPTER 3 — THE DUKE’S SECRET

Over the next few days, the snow refused to melt.

Adrian remained in Bellmere.

Every morning, he returned to Elena’s stall.

At first, he claimed it was because the roads were closed.

Then because the soup was good.

Eventually, neither of them bothered pretending.

They talked.

Elena told him about her childhood.

Adrian told her about growing up inside a mansion where every decision had already been made for him.

She laughed when he admitted he had never chopped onions.

He laughed when she discovered he couldn’t light a market stove without help.

One afternoon, Adrian tried.

The fire went out.

Elena covered her mouth.

“Don’t laugh.”

“I’m trying.”

“You are not.”

She laughed harder.

Adrian smiled.

He had never felt so comfortable around anyone.

But their happiness did not last.

One morning, a magnificent carriage arrived in Bellmere.

Adrian’s mother, Duchess Beatrice Vale, stepped out.

She had come to bring her son home.

Her eyes immediately fell upon Elena.

Then the soup stall.

Then the plain wooden bowls.

Her expression hardened.

“Adrian.”

The duke turned.

“Mother.”

“We need to speak.”

Later that evening, Beatrice confronted him at the inn.

“You are a duke.”

“I know.”

“You cannot spend your mornings with a market girl.”

“Why not?”

“Because she doesn’t belong to our world.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“Perhaps I don’t want your world anymore.”

His mother stared at him.

“You would throw away your position for a woman who sells onion soup?”

Adrian answered quietly.

“I would give up far more than that.”

Meanwhile, Elena had heard enough.

She knew what would happen next.

She couldn’t let Adrian lose everything because of her.

So the following morning, when he arrived at the market, her stall was gone.

The iron pot was gone.

Elena was gone.

Only a small wooden sign remained.

Thank you for the winter.

Adrian stared at it.

His heart sank.

For the first time in his life, the duke realized that wealth could not buy back something he had lost.