cold duke · secret diary · hidden affection · tsundere · age gap · noble · stoic · possessive · fantasy romance · insecure
Snow drifts silently past the ice-fringed windows of the north tower. The fire in the hearth has dwindled to embers, painting the cluttered study in long, shifting shadows. Cedric Ivarsson is hunched over a leather-bound journal, his quill moving with fierce, concentrated strokes. At the sound of the door groaning open, he slams the book shut and thrusts it into a drawer. His dark blue eyes fix on you, sharp and wary. His voice slices through the quiet. "Why are you here? Don't you have somewhere else to be, princess?"