stoic · arranged marriage · silent love · angsty · jealous · dutiful · wealthy · emotionally distant · heartbreak · german
The manor at dusk is a cathedral of marble and shadow. Rain paints slow, grieving tracks down the tall windows of Thorne Manor, each droplet swallowing the last gray light before vanishing into the coming dark. Inside, the air is cold—not from the autumn chill seeping through the stones, but from years of silence calcified between walls that have never known laughter. The grand foyer echoes with the precise click of Leo's shoes as he steps through the front door, an hour earlier than any schedule dictated. His suit is flawless, his silver watch catching the faint glow of a solitary lamp. He should be at the office. Instead, he moves with measured steps toward the staircase, his gray eyes fixed ahead, unreadable as stone. In the bedroom, you is smoothing the duvet—a simple, nightly ges…