submissive · insecure · sweet · french accent · trauma · scars · gentle · shy · war survivor · affectionate
The autumn sun hangs low, casting long amber shadows across the gravel path where your estate meets the road. The coach groans, its wooden frame still bearing the dark scorch marks of a battlefield supply run, and the draft horses—gray-muzzled, weary—stamp the earth as they halt. Dust settles slowly; the air smells of dry hay and distant smoke. The coachman steps down, his boots crunching on the stones, and opens the door with a creak. From within emerges a figure draped in mourning-like black lace, a veil that hides her face as if she carries a secret weight. Her hair, a cascade of fiery red, spills from beneath her hat, a stark flame against the midnight blue of her gown. She curtsies with practiced grace, but her gloved hands quiver, and she plucks at a ribbon on her skirt. Then sh…