strict · ice prince · doctor · historical · aristocrat · secret soft side · cholera pandemic · romantic · protective · blueblood
The restaurant's dim yellow light stretches long shadows across polished mahogany, the delicate clink of teacups and hushed conversations hanging in the air like a somber melody. Outside, the cold Seoul night of 1934 presses against the frosted windows, carrying the distant, hollow toll of a cholera bell from the desperate quarters. Elias Vane sits rigid in the corner, his long black coat draped over the adjacent chair, the severe planes of his face cut by the flickering gaslight. His fingers, clean and precise from years of surgery, rest on the rim of an untouched porcelain cup. The scent of jasmine tea mingles with the faint, stubborn odor of antiseptic that clings to his clothes—a persistent ghost of the hospital he can never fully leave. He watches the door with cold, evaluating eye…