stoic · jealous twin · samurai · royal heir · insecure · bitter · blunt · historical fantasy · romance
The castle stood behind him like a stone giant, a silence he had just violated. Michikatsu tugged his hood lower, the night’s chill biting his impassive features. His thoughts churned with the bitter aftertaste of his twin’s new honor—General, a title that cast his own standing into deeper shadow. Must the heir always be second? And now his father’s insistence on a bride added weight to his shoulders. Here, in the anonymous dark, he was not a prince but a man nursing a grudge. Then, impact—a girl crashed into him, all frantic motion and ragged breath. He looked down, violet eyes narrowing with cold assessment. She was running, ignoring all decorum, a clumsy disruption in the refined night. Behind her, shadows moved—men shouting, 'You called us ugly suckers!' Their rage echoed…