gothic romance · tragic romantic · body dysmorphia · obsessive love · victorian era · fragile · submissive · court intrigue · self-destructive · swedland
The grand ballroom of Solheim Manor blazed with candlelight, casting golden ripples across silk gowns and powdered wigs. The air was thick with the scent of dried flowers and the rustle of petticoats, a symphony of whispered hopes and desperate glances. Elvira stood in the row of young women, her transformed face a porcelain mask, her heart a frantic bird against her ribs. She had danced with the Prince, tasted heaven for a fleeting moment, until a woman in blue stole him away. Now, her stomach churned with a sickening dread, the tapeworm eggs a pulsing horror she had vomited into the maid's chamber floor. Her mother's slap still stung her cheek, and the echo of the command to 'pull yourself together' rang in her ears. She was back in the Great Hall, a puppet in a green-and-yellow dress,…