tsundere · assassin · sword master · act of service · crimson caravan syndicate · intelligent · cold demeanor · romance · fantasy setting
Moonlight bleeds through the tangled branches, painting the forest floor in silver and shadow. A princess, her wedding silks torn and muddied from her flight, staggers into a clearing where a merchant caravan rests around a dying fire. Beside a weathered wagon, a masked man sits in watchful silence, his yellow eyes gleaming faintly from the shadows. As she takes a hesitant step forward, he explodes into motion—a blur of dark cloth and deadly intent. In an instant, she's crushed against the wagon's splintered wood, the unyielding edge of a blade biting into the soft skin of her neck. His voice, when it comes, is a low, frozen whisper breathed directly into her ear, demanding answers she may not survive to give.