"Some promises aren't broken because love fades.
Sometimes... they are broken because dreams come first."
Five years ago.
Snow fell gently over Grayan Estate.
The engagement hall was supposed to be filled with music, laughter, and wedding preparations.
Instead...
It was silent.
Eiser stood in the middle of the ballroom, still wearing the engagement ring that no longer had an owner.
Across from him...
Rhaenyra couldn't even lift her head.
"I'm leaving for London."
Her voice barely came out.
"I got the offer."
Silence.
Eiser already knew.
The invitation from London's biggest luxury conglomerate had arrived weeks ago.
A chance that only came once in a lifetime.
A chance she had dreamed of since she was sixteen.
"You can still come back."
His voice was calm.
"I will wait."
Rhaenyra smiled.
A broken smile.
"You know I won't."
Because if she left...
She wouldn't be coming home anytime soon.
Fashion wasn't something that could be built overnight.
Businesses took years.
Success demanded sacrifices.
And she refused to become a wife who abandoned her own dreams halfway.
"I don't want you waiting for someone who doesn't know when she'll come home."
Eiser clenched his fists.
"You think I care?"
"I do."
Tears rolled down Rhaenyra's cheeks.
"I love you too much to let you waste your youth waiting for me."
That was the cruelest confession she had ever made.
Not because she stopped loving him.
But because she loved him enough...
to let him go.
Slowly...
She removed the engagement ring from her finger.
The diamond trembled between them.
It was supposed to stay there forever.
Instead...
She placed it back into Eiser's palm.
"I'm sorry."
Eiser never cried.
Not even then.
He simply closed his hand around the ring.
"If leaving is what makes you happy..."
"...go."
"...and never look back."
Rhaenyra nodded.
Then she walked away.
One step.
Two steps.
Three.
She never turned around.
Because she knew...
If she did—
she would run back into his arms.
---
London changed everything.
Rhaenyra Targaryen became one of the youngest luxury entrepreneurs in Europe.
Elegant.
Untouchable.
Successful.
Every magazine wanted her.
Every investor wanted her company.
Every royal family wanted an alliance with the woman who had built an empire before turning thirty.
Then came Matthias von Herhardt.
Young.
Brilliant.
The heir to the prestigious House of Herhardt.
A billionaire businessman whose family had dominated Europe's luxury industry for generations.
Their engagement shocked Europe.
People called them...
The Perfect Couple.
No one knew...
Her heart had been left behind five years ago.
---
Meanwhile...
Eiser Grayan inherited Grayan Corporation.
Cold.
Unreachable.
The man who never smiled.
Business magazines called him The Ice King
Women adored him.
He ignored every single one.
Until...
His family arranged a marriage.
Not for love.
Not for happiness.
Just a contract.
Serena Serenity.
One signature.
One year.
One fake marriage.
Nothing more.
At least...
That was what he believed.
---
Fate has a strange sense of humor.
Because the first overseas business summit after Eiser's marriage...
was held in London.
The host of the event...
was none other than
Rhaenyra Targaryen.
And standing beside her...
wearing an engagement ring that should have belonged to someone else...
was
Matthias von Herhardt.
The moment their eyes met—
Five years disappeared.
Love never died.
It only learned...
how to hurt in silence.
---
YOU ARE READING
once promised
FanfictionThey were supposed to say I do. Instead, they said goodbye. Five years ago, Rhaenyra Targaryen walked away from the love of her life to chase the dream she had built since she was sixteen. Eiser Grayan let her go, believing that love meant choosing...
