--Arianna POV--

He killed her. My best friend.

"How am I supposed to believe you?" I whispered, feeling my eyes tear up. "I understand that sometimes he could be a little scary when angry and he did shout and lose his temper if anyone made any mistakes but... but Ambrose wouldn't kill my friend, let alone his parents," Sniffling, I used the back of my hand to wipe my tears away.

"Everyone would always tell me that I was the luckiest woman alive to have been able to marry such a wonderful man. He never asked anything of me but my love. He didn't even take any more wives and always assured me that I was the only one for him. He was always by my side, he'd kiss my tears away and we would dance together under the oak tree outside, he'd make me laugh and smile and he made me feel so... alive... Ambrose, my Rose wouldn't... kill,"

And then I slowly felt myself break down. This was me, begging the universe or anything to tell me that this was all a lie. Everything they said made sense and I see everything clearly now. All the little things in his actions, his carefully, well-thought-out plans, it all made sense now.

The people disappearing from my lives.

Why didn't I see any of it earlier?

No one would expect for the man they married to be a psychopath.

"But... Why would he kill his parents?" I managed to whisper out not long after.

4501 smiled sadly and got comfortable on the ground beside me, his hand outstretching to hold mine and I stared at his hand which rested on mine. Ambrose would get angry if he saw this. But still, I didn't push his hand away, enjoying his comforting warmth.

"Like most psychopaths, he had a rough childhood. His parents expected so much from him and gave nothing in return. Ambrose was complimented by other parents but he was never enough for his own. He'd be whipped, slapped and beaten in ways that no child deserves for every little slip-up. He grew up, surrounded by so many people throwing things at him, pushing weights down on his shoulders that got heavier and heavier until one day... he broke,"

"Broke?" I repeated.

Ambrose vaguely told me about his childhood before. He told me that his parents never loved him, he had no other family to love him either and all he ever wanted was for someone to love him. He told me he thought he would never get to be loved because of who he was but I proved him wrong and that made him so happy.

And thinking back to that memory, I felt my heart clench. Even now, after knowing about his wrongdoings and the blood that stained his hands, I still loved him. That childlike look on his face every time I told him that I loved him makes it clear to me now that Ambrose has only ever wanted to be loved by someone.

"He messed with the carriage his parents would use for a business trip and they crashed, dying instantly and leaving nothing but money for him. He used that money and strengthened the Callisto family business and grew it to what it is now. Even after his death, your child William will continue to build the business and even hundreds of years from now, the Callisto business will be one of the most dominating businesses in the world,"

I don't know how to react to that.

I wonder if the Ambrose they're telling me about and the Ambrose I'm thinking about are the same person? Who would have thought that marrying a single man would lead to this much drama? 

Sighing, I leaned back on the white wall.

"Rose has made mistakes in his life like any other person. His mistakes are more severe and the fact that he lacks any remorse is making things worse... but still... He was, like any other mortal, a man that wanted to be loved. I wonder what kind of man he would have become if only his parents were better,"

I looked at 4302 and he looked at me.

"I married a murderer... but more than that, I married a broken man."

"Aria-"

"I know that I don't know much about psychopathy but what I do know is that Ambrose is aware of the fact that he is not normal and because of that, he is also aware that it isn't easy for another person to get close to him, he who has such repellent personality characteristics. Before he met me, his life was devoid of any warmth or close-bonds and if I am to leave him again then his murderous intent may only broaden,"

Silence followed my words for quite a while after that.

"You're like the pin keeping the bomb from exploding... But why are you taking his side? After he's killed people close to you, who is to say that it won't happen again?" 4501 asked.

"I don't know," I replied with yet another deep sigh.

Ambrose may not have told me but I knew that he felt as though the whole world was against him and because of that, he wanted to be at the top, in a position where no one would dare to do anything against him in the way that his parents had and eventually, he grew to believe that he deserved whatever he wanted and had the rights to satisfy his desires. Despite his outward arrogance, I had caught peeks of his hidden self, the one that felt inferior to others. I saw him fighting himself, being stigmatized by his own behaviour.

I wonder what it must have felt like, to grow up feeling so lonely, being told that you had everything when in all actuality you felt as if you had nothing? To feel as though you had to carefully hide your true personality because your real one wouldn't be accepted by others?

He grew up, seeing the love and friendship others shared and felt dejected knowing that he would never have that. And when he met me, he wanted to protect what he thought he would never have and tried to keep me from leaving because if I did leave then he would be in his own hell again, trapped in the darkness of his mind.

How scared must he have been? To live a life like that, how scared must he have been?

Hunching over, I covered my mouth with my hands as I sobbed.

"Aria? What's wrong?" 4302 asked, surprised by my sudden tears. 

I sat there, crying for the man that had lived and died. He, who wanted nothing more than to be normal but was cursed with such a cruel fate. And I, the simple woman that had loved him and despite everything, still loves him.

"My poor Rose," I cried, hugging myself and thinking about my husband.

Where did it all go wrong?

The universe saw him as a villain, a cold-blooded murderer with innocent blood on his hands. But to me, to me, he was my husband. Just that.

...