It was a hot day. The sun was shining bright and there wasn't a breath of wind. Kristof searched for a place in the shade. Right now he wondered why he decided to visit the town's market on a day like this, with these high temperatures.

He enjoyed visiting the market. It was something he used to do as a little boy with his parents.

He had wrapped up a thin cloth around half of his face. People could think it was for protection, because of the scorching sun, so this was a pretty handy disguise to cover up his scar.

A large tree provided a good place to have some rest. He sat down and rested his back against the lumpy tree trunk. He was sitting in the dry dirt, but he didn't mind. Happily, he looked at the people and the busy market life. Some people were bargaining, carriages drove around, farmers and merchants sold their goods. He could smell the different scents of leather, spices, horse poo, and whatnot. Children played, old people talked together, and young people laughed.

Then, suddenly, his eyes and ears were drawn to a young man near the fountain. Maybe he was still a boy, and not a man yet.

"What are you gonna do?" Another boy asked the object of his interest.

"I'm hot. I need to cool off."

While the boy said it, he jumped shamelessly in the fountain basin. Just like that! The puddle was small, and he could barely sit in it.

"Klaus, Bright, Peter, Timo, haha, come here, you guys!"

The others ran around the fountain and the boy began splashing around. He was aiming at one of his friends when he accidentally splashed a handful of water in the face of an old man!

"Well, you! Young man, I will teach you some!"

"Armin, look out! Haha." One of his friends laughed.

The old grandpa started hitting the boy with his cane. But the boy only laughed while apologizing. His friends laughed as well and even the grandpa began to chuckle as he chased another boy while waving his cane in the air, pretending to be angry. But he couldn't hold in his laughter anymore. He probably enjoyed the cooling splash on that hot day.

Kristof watched the scene with a smile on his face. The young boy had such energy. Such liveliness. His smile. Kristof felt something inside him. As if someone grabbed his heart tight and squeezed it. Armin. That was his name.

Kristof will never forget his name.

He watched the grandpa sit on the edge of the fountain, all out of breath, while the other boys gathered around him and Armin laid on his belly in the fountain, his crossed elbows hanging over the edge, and his head resting on his arms. Legs dangled all over the edge because he was just too tall to fit in.

They talked together for a while and laughed. Kristof saw the little dimples in Armin's cheeks when he smiled.

He watched them for at least an hour, until the boys ran away, playfully chasing after each other. The boy with the name Armin had never left Kristof's mind since then.

Kristof has had a restless night, he barely slept. All he could do was ponder about the situation. Sometimes falling asleep for what felt like a minute or two and then wake up again, only to keep thinking about Armin, his father, and their marriage.

The horrible night seemed to last forever. He couldn't get the events of the previous day out of his head.

All those things that Armin had said to him. He knew he had said those things because he was upset at the predicament he had found himself in. Because Armin's father had basically sold his hand in marriage, Armin was angry at his father, and by association, angry at him too. Kristof knew it would be easier for Armin to take out all his anger on him, instead of his father, so it was fine with him being the one that was at the receiving end of that anger. He'd gladly sacrifice himself for Armin's feelings.

He thought all night about ways to fix the situation. The solution he came up with would end up with him having to make a sacrifice. Again.

Kristof decided to talk to Theo before he left to go to the mine for inspection. Armin's family was staying in a small guest house near the castle.

"He doesn't want this. You are his father; you should have known."

"He just needs to get to know you. You're a good man. He needs to give it a chance."

"We started all wrong, Theo. He will hate me and resent me. I decided to let him have a choice. He can stay here till the end of next month. If he still is unhappy, then we can end this so-called marriage. You can keep the money and I will make sure Armin and your family will be well provided for. For the rest of your lives."

Theo pursed his lips. He thought about it.

"You know you can't just divorce someone. It's against the law."

"There is one way that legally lets people divorce. Or actually, annul the marriage."

Theo looked up and Kristof could tell the father knew what he meant.

"The marriage is not consummated yet?"

"No."

✧══════•❁❀❁•══════✧

Armin barely slept. It was a crappy night. He cried half the night, thinking about what had happened yesterday. Kristof never returned to the room, thank goodness.

He felt a pang of guilt when he thought about all the things he yelled at Kristof. It wasn't really fair of him, he knew that. He just couldn't help himself!

Knowing that Kristof could have just taken him that night, but didn't, made him grateful because the thought alone of that man hovering over him in bed made his stomach turn.

But how long could Kristof wait before he would just take what was his to take?

After Armin stepped out of bed, he called for a servant and someone with a sweet voice knocked on his door and opened it after Armin gave permission.

"Hello, Sir. My name is May. I have some tea with me." A young lady walked in. She rolled a cart with a teapot and a cup on it.

Armin looked at the girl. She was beautiful, but he saw it immediately. Her eyes. One eye was dark brown and the other was light green! Armin never saw that before, someone with different color eyes.

"Your eyes." The words just spilled out of his mouth.

"Haha, yes it's remarkable, huh?" She smiled at him.

"But... how can they be different?"

"Even I don't know the answer to that. I was born like this. My mother had green eyes and my father had brown eyes, so I guess I got a little from both of them."

Armin didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think of it. He didn't know what to think of them, the people who worked here as servants.

He saw it yesterday and the day before as well. Kristof wasn't the only person in this household with imperfections. He saw a woman with hair on her face, like a beard. A man with a wooden leg, a man with a missing finger. And now this girl with two different eyes.

May looked at Armin and knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Sir Kristof gives us the opportunity to live. People like us are doomed in society. We are so lucky with such a good master who is looking out for us."

May wanted Armin to know what a good man Kristof was.

"Do you want to hear more? Or talk a little?"

Armin could use some company and he was kind of curious about what she had to say.

"Yes... I would."

May poured some tea into the cup. After she was done, she focused on Armin again.

"Okay, let's sit here."

She guided him to the chairs in front of the window.

Armin was still dressed in his ceremonial clothing. His hair was a mess, his face was pale and his eyes were all puffy with dark circles. May pitied him.

They sat down and May nodded to the cup she placed in front of Armin on the table. "Drink it."

Armin grabbed it and blew into the cup before taking a small sip. It was chamomile tea, which he gladly welcomed. Maybe it would make him feel a bit better than he felt now.

May started talking. "My childhood was a disaster. I stayed indoors most of the time because my parents feared that I would be seen as some witch. After they died, I was left all alone. I needed food, so I roamed outside in search of food and a job. I needed to earn some money. But of course, nobody wanted to hire me. It was hell."

Her eyes started to glisten with tears a little when she went on with the story.

"Then, I met Sir Kristof. He offered me a position and here I still am. Four years already. I could not wish for a better master or a better life than I have here. I probably would have starved to death if it wasn't for him."

Armin didn't really know what to say to her story. He smiled a little and took another sip of the tea.

"If you are hungry, you can sit in the dining room for breakfast. Sir Kristof already left."

"Okay, I am a little hungry."

Armin almost ate nothing yesterday. He could feel his stomach protesting.

"Good, Sir. I will look for clothes and after you're finished getting dressed, you can come to the dining room."

She walked over to the cabinet and searched for proper clothing. Armin had a closet full of new clothes made of the finest fabrics.

"Before I forget. Sir asked me if you have everything you need. Sir knows you like to paint, so he bought you the best painting equipment there is. Shall I have it brought to your room?"

Armin didn't know if he felt like a painting now, but he nodded. "Yes."

"He also asked me to give you the message to please dine with him tonight. He doesn't want to force you, but he has some urgent matters to discuss."

~~~

May did as she was told and had all the painting supplies brought over.

Armin still felt a little awkward with the fact that he had so many servants who would do all he wanted.

He stared at the empty canvas in front of him. He picked up the brush and started painting.

After a good three hours, he looked at his creation. A portrait of his former lover was to be seen. Roan's face. His beautiful smiling face. The man he had given his body to for the first time in his life and never heard from since. Who hadn't even come to say goodbye.

Armin stood up and grabbed a pair of scissors.

After a couple of minutes of staring at the painting, he rammed the scissor through Roan's smile with great force and cut the canvas into pieces.

That felt good.

~~~

During dinner, two men sat opposite each other, both at the head of the table.

Kristof all of a sudden grabbed his plate and cutlery and walked over to Armin, sitting down at the chair beside him. He then waved at the servants, to leave the room.

"This way we can talk easier, don't you think?"

All Armin could think about right now was why Kristof had decided to sit at that side of the table. If he could just sit on the other side, Armin would see his better profile. Not the side of his face with the scar.

"I have something I wanted to discuss with you," Kristof continued.

"Uh- sure," Armin replied.

"I have been thinking about it all night. There- there is a way to end this marriage. You don't have to worry about money. I will provide you enough to be comfortable for the rest of your life and I won't ask anything back from your family."

There was a way to end it? Armin had tried to think of how. All he knew was that once married, you could never divorce.

"All I ask in return is for you to stay here for a few weeks and try to be a little happy. Maybe see me as a friend instead of an enemy. It pains me to see you like this."

"How can we end it?" That was all Armin wanted to know, he didn't want to be this man's friend.

"The marriage isn't consummated yet. However, to annul the marriage, you must give a valid reason for not becoming physical after the wedding."

Armin didn't understand it at first, but then it hit him that Kristof was speaking about sex.

"I thought about it," the older continued. "I will permit you to say it's my fault. You can say I wasn't able to perform in the bedroom. That way, only my reputation will be harmed. I don't mind if this can bring you the happiness you seek for. My reputation is damaged already by my looks."

Armin could see Kristof's adam's apple bobble up and down when he said: "that way you don't have to stay here and you can marry someone else. Someone you do love."

"You... you would do that? For me? Why?" Armin asked.

"I don't want you to be miserable with me. Believe it or not, Armin... but I'm not a bad man."

Armin took a bite of his food. He was relieved, so relieved. He would remain married to Kristof for only a few more weeks. He could survive that.

"I accept your offer. I will try my best. I will try to be happy for a few weeks."

"Good. In three weeks, we will throw a big party. It's something I do every year. I would like you to attend it. And after that, you are free to go to court."

The two men ate the rest of their meals in silence.

Armin sometimes looked up at Kristof's scar that went up and down and up and down as the man chewed.

When Kristof looked up at him, Armin quickly looked away.

"I... I'm sorry... About what I said to you last night. That was mean of me." Armin spoke softly, almost whispering.

"Did you have a crappy, restless night too?" Kristin asked, half-smiling, before he put a piece of potato in his mouth.

"I did." Armin sighed.

"What did you do today?"

"I painted...Thank you, by the way, for the material."

"You're welcome. What did you paint?"

"Oh, nothing special. Nothing worth mentioning."

"Paint me something. Before you'll leave," Kristof said. It was a way for him to have something left of Armin in the house after annulling the marriage.

"I will."

This was already enough for Kristof. Just talking to him like this. Armin seemed to be able to breathe again. He knew he could never make Armin have feelings for him. He could never make him fall in love with him.

So this was enough.