Warning: Un-beta'd.





a. Victoria writes her first commandment


Love, to Kris, is a word that is too often used, yet, not often considered; it is abused by those who do not truly understand its meaning and neglected by those who can define the term by many forms of emotional and physical expression and not simply literary devices.

He, for one, does not use that word, or any diction of similar conduct, easily.

Therefore, when Victoria uses the word on him, he is slightly flabbergasted—rendered speechless, if you will.

“Don’t speak of love as though you know it,” Kris had lectured her, anger still burning at the tips of his fingers. “Such a passion is one that people of our status cannot comprehend at ease.”

His wife then falls into silence, which ignites an inexplicably great anxiety within him.

When stillness dawns upon them, there is little motivation for Kris to start up another conversation. At this rate, they would only continue to argue. He, as her husband, would always have the greater say, yet, he didn’t want to use his power over her to make his wife feel inferior.

They had enough issues at play.

“There is always the option of a divorce.”

Kris immediately shifts his eyes to her, Victoria’s head turned to the side. “What did you say?”

She takes a deep breath. “You can divorce me. All it would take from you is to claim I have committed adultery; Suho would be the most appropriate suspect, no? Then the churches would immediately grant you our divorce and you will be free to run towards Madame Park with open arms.”

“Is that what you so desire?” Kris asks.

Her expression remains still, cheeks pale and hands trembling in her lap. “It is the answer to all your concerns, is it not?”

“If I divorced you, you will be condemned from our society and shunned from the cities; the government would punish you and you will have few to no chances of redeeming your name. Are you aware of that?”

Victoria does not waver. “Is this not the best solution to our issues?” She asks, finally meeting eyes with him. “After marrying me, you have not been happy; everything I will so happen to inherit from my father, everything that I have been blessed with belongs to you; however, you show no signs of acceptance on my behalf. A woman of our time has no right to property, we have no right to anything—I could not even divorce you if I wanted,” Victoria bites through her teeth, “but now you have the chance, Kris. Now is an opportunity for you to return to your normal lifestyle. Are you aware of this?”

The offer is tempting. If it were a few months ago, Kris possibly would have taken it. However, the Kris that is now standing before her will not agree to such a derisory request.

A moment that is neither too long nor very short passes in yet another seam of silence. Amongst the two of them, there are too many tensions that have yet to be resolved.

“You said you love me,” Kris pronounces.

Victoria opts to correct him. “Loved,” she replies, “that must be what it was but I cannot be sure. I have not loved before; therefore, I wouldn’t know whether or not it was truly an emotion as such.”

“You either love me or you don’t,” Kris responds, stepping towards her, each step pounding on her heart. “I won’t settle with anything less than an absolute answer.”

There is confusion in her eyes, uneasiness in her posture. Kris can read her like a book spread open with text large enough to view from a great distance. It was never hard to at least somewhat understand this woman, for she displayed most all of her emotions on her pretty porcelain face.

“What am I saying?” He laughs, reaching out to cup her cheek in his palm.

His touch is gentle, yet, there is the ever slightest bit of possessiveness in his caresses. Victoria can feel the threat in his eyes.

“Don’t ever mention divorce to me again, Victoria. Just as you have said before, I own you, all of you, and what I own I will never surrender to another. I know I haven’t been the best husband one could wish for, nor the best support you could ask for, but just as I am responsible for you and your actions, you are obligated to me and my demands. Mark these words, Victoria: Suho is not simple, nor are his intentions pure. You are a part of our family now and everything you decide to enact upon affect us as an entirety. Call it possessiveness, call it jealousy, or call it whatever you will, but I do not enjoy even the sight of the two of you being near each other. From now on, unless permitted by myself in advanced, I do not want you meeting with the Count of Alsace. Do you understand?”





And so Kris no longer stays out late into the night, nor does he return to bed with the simple intention for slumbering the night away. They spend the rest of their nights in engagements that were far and few in the past, fingers on skin, lips touching and bodies tensing in a moment of heated grace.

Even if Victoria felt too tired, she would have to submit to her husband’s needs. Such is the way of life.

As he clenches his fists into her hair, or when she shudders and tightens her knees against his waist, there are few thoughts running through their mind.

They are both too blind to see, but it is almost as though Kris wants to fill Victoria with nothing but him and Victoria has no choice but to give in to his wits. Subservience, that of which is the role of an obedient and helpless wife.





The next time Victoria gets a chance to speak with Suho is almost ten weeks later.

“I haven’t heard from you at all,” Victoria remarks, curtsying at the young Count.

Suho returns the gesture swiftly, taking her gloved hands and pressing a chaste kiss to the back of it. “I’ve been preoccupied, milady.”

“Preoccupied or warded off?” She laughs.

The man grins at her unchanging humor, “A little of both, in all honesty. I’m sure your husband appreciated my sudden disappearance from your life.”

“Kris has most definitely calmed down the few weeks past,” the lady explains. “Thank you.”

Suho shakes his head. “A wise man knows when to come and go.”

“Only, I had lost a friend to speak to when I was concerned with many questions I cannot answer for myself,” Victoria purses her lips. “You were practically my very own Socrates.”

“Is that a compliment?” Suho jokes.

Victoria nods sarcastically, “Most definitely, milord.”

“You have yet to question the motive behind my behavior that night, months ago,” the Count says in a sense of reprieve, “are you not curious?”

“You have your reasons,” Victoria undertakes, not wanting to alarm him, “we all do.”

Suho laughs. “What if I said I simply wanted to set your dear husband off?”

“You’re not the type,” she tells him, rather calmly.

He smiles gently. “I assume all is well with the family and marriage?”

In haste, Victoria breathes in and suppresses a sigh. “He’s trying a little harder than before, I suppose.”

“To treat you right?” Suho asks.

Victoria chuckles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “To love me,” she says, “but love is simply not something that can be forced, isn’t that so?”

“I have only wished to increase the value in which you assign to your own name,” Suho explains, “anything and everything I do for you would be for nothing less. Perhaps I don’t know love the way you and Kris may, but I can tell you so much: a man who tries is a man who cares; men have no strength or effort to work for something that does not make them feel concerned.”

“Would he then be concerned of losing me, or is he concerned of losing me?” Victoria asks. “The difference may seem insignificant, but such insignificances are what women live for.”

Suho humors her with a hoot. “Milady, any man would be afraid of losing you because your beauty is so rare to the human eyes.”

“Suho,” Victoria grumbles.

He smiles. “I am being absolutely genuine with my words, Victoria. Do not lose confidence in yourself due to a man who does not know how to cherish you in the ways that you deserve, for there are dozens of other men out here who are waiting to embrace you when you fall.”

“I cannot decide whether you are trying to mend my broken marital relationship or if you are trying to sculpt Kris into more of a scumbag than he already was,” Victoria teases.

The Count finds it in him to smile in return, lips crooked and eyes glimmering in the light. “Perhaps a little of both,” he humors, “perhaps none at all.”

“Anyhow,” Victoria breathes, “I do hope that all is well with your family and your businesses.”

“We are… reconstructing things here and there,” Suho admits, his tone a little cautious in all the right syllables, “hence my prolonged absence from your life.”

Victoria nods tentatively. “As long as events are turning for the better, I suppose none of us should have any complaints.

“No complaints indeed,” Suho agrees, “I believe it won’t take much longer for my weakened power to revive under our family name again.”

“That is very fortunate,” Victoria offers sincerely, reaching out to pat the back of Suho’s hand. “I had been worried for you on multiple occasions when your name was brought up during campaigns and functions in the span of your absence. Most comments were rather… negative.”

“Was it Kris that you heard from?” Suho jokes.

Victoria narrows her eyes and removes her hand from his. The comfort of her hand is gone, but the warmth still lingers.

“What I really meant to say was thank you, Victoria,” Suho shakes his head with a helpless smile. “Thank you for caring. You are perhaps one of the few who even bother to think of me anymore.”

“We’re friends, Suho,” Victoria tells him. “Don’t you think you sound a little silly right now?”

He laughs. “It does appear so,” he agrees, then he raises a glass of fruit punch from the table they are seated.

“To youth!”

She raises a glass to his and cheers them together, smiling. “Yes, to youth.”





Fatigue often intercepts Victoria’s divulgence of work.

As she writes, tips to feathered pens constantly doused in ink as black as a raven, her eyelids grow heavy and her trail of thoughts begin to lose focus. Her exhaustion continues on for days, until she feels every joint in her body aching and scorching in pain.

“You must take a break,” her maid encourages. “Your body won’t be able to take much more of this.”

Within her left hand she clutches a small object tightly, warmth engulfing her with the sole thought of having it in her possession. It was the gift Suho had given her the night they last met, a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a delicately carved golden key, and along with it came a note written in his pen.

I once thought I should— and most honestly could— easily hold the key to your heart, because with such an instrument I would be able to mark you under my control and use you as I please against the Count of which you reside with. However, I soon learned that you are not only a mesmerizing person of your own, but you are intelligent and witty and possess a charm that is hard for most others to resist. Therefore, even if I held the key, you would still hold the power. I am therefore returning this key to you, my dear Victoria, in hopes that you will utilize it wisely. After all, a Count is not easy to come by.

Suho… he is truly a very, very good man.

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A/N: Have you guys seen Victoria and Kris's airport photos otw to Japan? They match so well~ they're both so gorgeous!! T_____T

Callout to Bunny here and over on Twitter~ and to all my awesome avid readers/commentors (gadisapple, midnightdreamz423, keuraewolf, and fazlyn_n)! ♥♥♥Xue.