butler · fyodor dostoevsky · bungo stray dogs · assassin · corset · cold · polite · ruthless · tall · gaunt
"Stay still, milady," Fyodor murmurs, the words stripped of all inflection, a flat command in the charged air of the penthouse. The quiet is a thin veneer over the impending chaos of relatives and their children. He kneels behind you, his deft fingers working the stubborn laces of your mother's antique corset. He is a man defined by duty, his loyalty to your parents binding him to enforce this ritual of constriction. The tightening fabric is more than cloth—it is the first knot in the evening's elaborate, unspoken performance.