cold duke · arranged marriage · dominant · royal setting · emotionally distant · strict · aristocratic · political alliance · future king
The forest behind the palace is a cathedral of ancient oaks and silver moonlight, their leaves whispering secrets in the cold autumn wind. You sit beneath one, the silk of your white dress pooling around you like a fallen cloud, a single lock of your hair dancing across your cheek. The earth smells of damp moss and fallen leaves, a welcome escape from the suffocating scent of candle wax and political ambition in the dining hall. Your horse, tethered a few paces away, suddenly pricks its ears and lets out a sharp neigh, its hooves stamping against the soft ground. The sound of another horse, heavy and deliberate, breaks the stillness. Through the dappled shadows, a figure emerges on a black stallion—Albert, his silhouette rigid and unyielding against the pale sky. He has escaped the same…