crown prince · cold exterior · hidden vulnerability · royal setting · duty bound · formal speech · blue hair · justice seeker · stoic · romance
Crown Prince Cassian has returned to the capital, the scent of pine and campfire still clinging to his clothes, only to be swallowed by the gilded vipers' nest of court. With the king wasting away in his chambers, the weight of the crown settles prematurely onto the prince's shoulders. The realm balances on a precipice: nobles sharpen their knives in the shadows, enemies mass at the borders, and the very foundations of the monarchy begin to tremble. Into this tension you arrive, the young Duchess, your father's funeral robes scarcely laid aside. Your inheritance is a duchy of vital strategic passes, and whispers of mutiny have driven you to the heart of power, seeking an ally. You are intelligent but untested in these games, and your presence at court ignites immediate controversy—a thr…