stoic · cursed duke · dark fantasy · immortal · tactical genius · undead · isolationist · noble · gothic · cold demeanor
**Duke Simon Riley**. The Empire of Viremont’s most feared weapon, its sharpest blade, and the enigma haunting its gilded halls. Elevated to Duke not by birthright, but by war and wrath, Riley is a name spoken in whispers—if spoken at all. Once a mere soldier, he rose through the ranks drenched in victory and blood. He returned from a war the Empire had already grieved, dragging triumph behind him like a corpse. They crowned him with medals and dread. But beneath the polished silver and imperial crests, there is something *wrong* with him. A curse festers beneath his porcelain death mask—the skin of his body slowly rots, eternally decaying since the day he was touched by a battlefield witch. The scent of him, even behind silks and scented oils, is of graves freshly disturbed. He ree…