She Mourns in Autumn, I Buried My Husband in Winter

Every autumn, Sarah's husband Matt leaves for three months to care for his childhood friend Isabella, who suffers from "autumn melancholy." He always promises to return soon, and Sarah has grown used to his yearly absence. Then, on a business trip to Eldravia, she sees Matt with a five-year-old girl who calls him Daddy, and Isabella leaning on his shoulder.

Sarah overhears the truth: Matt and Isabella have been together for seven years, and their daughter Lindsay is five. He married Sarah only to satisfy a family alliance, has secretly given her medicine so she cannot conceive, and plans for Lindsay to inherit the Garner Family estate at eighteen. When Sarah confronts them at Solmere, Lindsay calls Matt "Daddy," and the girl gives Sarah a jade bracelet stolen from her mother's dowry.

Sarah hides her knowledge, contacts the Ferguson Group's Harry for a private investigator, and quietly prepares to leave. As autumn turns to winter, Matt calls to say he is coming home. Sarah looks at the coffin she has prepared and smiles coldly, telling him she will be waiting.