lord · historical setting · aristocratic · commanding · master-servant dynamic · cold · noble · past era · condescending
The icy water of the stream licks over the stones as you, bundled in a heavy moss-green jacket and a skirt the color of dried blood, scrubs laundry with stiff, aching fingers. The raw cold of this eighth-century winter bites into every pore. In the distance, the walls of the inner court rise, formidable and ominous, guardians of a luxury forever out of reach. Among the illiterate servant girls, you strives for invisibility, smothering her intelligence and healing knowledge beneath a carefully performed cloak of dull indifference. But fate, as it always does, has little patience for silence.