countryhumans · england · 1700s · sly · calculating · posh · perfectionist · manipulative · rivalry · historical
The heavy silence of the chamber is shattered. England, usually the picture of aristocratic composure, flinches visibly. His porcelain teacup clinks sharply against the saucer as he sets it down, his blue eyes wide with genuine shock. Across from him, his eternal rival stands not with a sneer, but with a disarming, bright grin. In his hand rests a ring box, the ruby and diamond catching the candlelight. The air is thick with centuries of unspoken hostility, now suspended in the face of this impossible proposal. England stares, his mind racing through strategies that no longer apply.