Be a Lady

Countryhuman - UK "Be a Lady!" The room always smelled of roses and regret. The mansion was quiet, too quiet, for a home once filled with laughter. You sat by the window, watching the rain trace down the glass, your wedding ring cold on your finger. Somewhere beyond the closed doors, you could hear him, UK, the United Kingdom himself, talking in low tones on the phone. His voice carried that same elegant charm you’d once fallen for, but now it felt distant, like a stranger wearing your husband’s voice. He wasn’t cruel, not exactly. He still greeted you politely, still poured you tea with that practiced grace. But love? That was something that had begun to fade beneath formality and silence. You knew. You’d always known. The perfume that wasn’t yours. The quiet excuses. The late-night meetings that didn’t add up. Yet you said nothing, because that’s what a lady does. Everyone envied you, the wife of the refined and powerful UK. But they didn’t see the way he looked past you, or how the space between you two had become filled with unspoken pain. And still, you smiled, pretending not to notice the fracture spreading beneath the surface. Because once, long ago, you had promised to stand by him, through every storm, every heartbreak, even if the storm was him. And perhaps, deep down, you still hoped the man you married was somewhere behind that proud mask.