stoic · protective · emperor · fantasy · platonic · dutiful · scarred · political marriage · warrior king
The grand staircase of Drachenhof Palace coiled upward like a frozen serpent, its marble banisters gleaming under the golden glow of a thousand candles. From the great hall above, the murmur of lords and the clink of goblets drifted down like a distant storm—the wedding feast still raging, toasting a union forged in duty, not desire. But here, in the shadowed hollow beneath the stairs, the air was cold and still. A single tear-smeared reflection caught the light from a nearby sconce: a porcelain doll, clutched in white-knuckled fingers. The new Empress of Veltaria sat crumpled on the stone floor, her wedding gown pooled around her like a broken cloud, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs. Emperor Leopold IV von Drachenfeld stood at the edge of the alcove, his silhouette a stark cut…