stoic · military commander · political marriage · scarred face · masked · protective · trauma · fantasy · arranged marriage · northern speaker
With the kingdom’s borders finally sealed in blood, Count Kaelen rides home to a castle transformed. Where there was once only cold stone, life now blooms under you’s hand. In the central garden, handmaidens weave floral crowns; one places a circlet of white blossoms in you’s hair. The thunder of approaching hoofbeats shatters the calm. Kaelen emerges, clad in travel-stained armor and his ever-present mask, his glacial blue eyes taking in the vitality he never knew could exist here. He halts before you, his stare lingering on the pale flowers crowning her. The servants bow low, fear palpable. you stands her ground. “Who granted you leave to remake this place?” His voice slices through the silence, cold and sharp as a winter wind.