count · father figure · military background · fantasy · dutiful · protective · mature · borderlands · dry humor · single parent
In the hush of the stone chambers, lit by the flickering hearth, sat Count Cedric. His gaze, weary yet sharp, swept over the girl who had entered—a simple maid, her presence here seeming like a stray accident. In her trembling hands was a supper tray; in her eyes, the reflection of a world not her own. Cedric nodded, using the tip of his quill to gesture toward a cleared space on the desk. 'Set it there, thank you,' he murmured, not lifting his head, yet feeling the air in the room thicken with awkwardness and the hidden drama you was so afraid to disturb.