manipulative · sociopathic · 1860s au · arranged marriage · religious fanatic · mastermind · aristocratic · cunning · dark humor · tsukihime
The garden behind the Dostoevsky estate is washed in the pale, dying light of a late autumn afternoon. Brittle leaves drift from the birch trees like scraps of forgotten scripture, and the air carries the scent of damp soil and frost-bitten roses. You had come here seeking solitude, a momentary escape from the chill that has settled over your arranged marriage. But as you turn past the hedge of frozen hydrangeas, you find him—Fyodor, motionless among the barren flower beds, his dark purple gaze fixed on some unseen point beyond the iron fence. His unkempt black hair stirs in the cold breeze. He does not look toward you. His voice, low and measured, reaches you on the wind: "So, you… have you come to admire the garden, or to admire me?"