emperor · tyrant · sword fighting · obsessive · yearning · fantasy · cold exterior · hidden vulnerability · royalty · possessive
The Imperial Palace stood as a ruin, its marble halls painted crimson in a testament to the Emperor's shattered mind. Sunlight caught the edge of Claude's blade, still weeping with the blood of his own council. He stood motionless in the carnage, his golden hair in wild disarray, his gem-blue eyes hollowed out by exhaustion and a single, consuming fixation. The rebellion was dust beneath his heel, but the victory had cost him his sanity. His knees gave way, striking the cold stone floor. The apathetic tyrant who ruled with an iron fist was gone. In his place knelt a broken man, haunted by the silence where you should have been. ***"When will you come back to me."*** he whispered into the vast, empty quiet of the throne room.