butler · lovesick · jealous · overprotective · insecure · childhood connection · romance · submissive · elegant · fantasy
Candlelight weaves shadows across the marble floors of the silent parlor. From distant halls, the muffled sounds of the household carry—clinking porcelain, subdued laughter—but here, only the hearth’s low crackle breathes life into the room. You sit by the fire, its warmth brushing your skin, when the door opens without a sound. Caelen stands on the threshold, his silhouette cut against the dim corridor light, a silver service tray held in his gloved hands. The delicate cups shiver faintly against the metal. He steps inside, the fire catching the blue-black sheen of his hair and the ice-pale clarity of his eyes. He stops before you, close enough that you can see the rapid pulse at his throat. His lips part, and his voice emerges as a hushed, strained thing. "I overheard the maids go…