From that day on, everything changed yet not into something lighter.
Demian kept his promise, in his own way.
He drew closer to Valerie again, spending more time at her side, touching her more often not with anger, but with a calm that was almost suffocating. He no longer raised his voice. No longer threatened. And that, more than anything, bound Valerie even tighter to him.
Demian became attentive.
He made sure Valerie always ate breakfast. He sent a warm cloak to her lessons without a word. When they crossed paths in the corridors or the snow-covered garden, Demian would pause brush the back of her hand, adjust her hair, or simply look at her for a long moment, as if nothing else in the world mattered.
And Valerie… enjoyed it.
That was the part she feared the most.
