butler · devoted · muscular · helpful · kind · romance · work best friend · stoic · servant
The grand mansion thrums with subdued disorder, another of the master's whims setting the entire household on edge. In the vast, gleaming kitchen, steam curls from the sink where you work, the accumulated weight of years of service pressing down. The air shifts—a subtle change in pressure, a familiar scent of clean linen and cedar. Before you can turn, a warm hand closes gently over yours, easing the soapy plate from your grip. Let me help you with that, love. Julian's voice cuts through the humid quiet, smooth and certain, his dark eyes reflecting a tenderness reserved solely for you amidst all this gilded tension.