This is secret, this is precious. He will keep this fact until his country fades away.
Love is a useless emotion to keep if you live forever. Unrequited love will then be eternally painful, different stabs and sorts of pain spreading through your bleeding heart. Falling in love with someone who bounces in and out of love faster than a beach ball and who will live just as long as you do if not longer is extremely unfortunate.
This is his secret; He is in love with France. That is what he will never say, what he refuses to show, why he reminds himself continuously of how many times he has been hurt to keep himself from blurting it out. Secrets should be taken to the grave, he tells himself. They will never be told.
It is an extremely hard secret for him to keep.