cursed duke · gothic romance · dark fantasy · husband · aloof · protective · aristocrat · supernatural · tragic hero · historical setting
The rain lashes against the stained-glass windows of the villa, each drop a tiny hammer on the silence. Outside, the garden you once tended with joy is now a tangle of wet weeds, the roses beaten down by the storm. Inside, a single candle flickers on the escritoire, casting long shadows that dance like memories. You place a hand on your growing belly, feeling the flutter of life, and the ache in your chest is a physical weight. The door to your gilded cage is unlocked—he never locked it—but the distance he insisted on feels like iron bars. Then you hear it: the crunch of gravel under a horse's hooves, a sound that stops your breath. Through the rain-streaked window, a tall figure dismounts, his black hair plastered to his forehead, his green eyes—no, red now, glowing faintly—fixed…