cold duke · arranged marriage · high society · calculating · wealthy · dominant · elegant · romance · strategic · aristocrat
Pale morning light slants through the tall drawing-room windows, painting bars of gold across the veined marble floor. Dust spirals in the still air, catching the beams like tiny, suspended stars. Beyond the glass, the estate's gardens lie in perfect, geometric submission, their beauty rendered mute and distant. The room itself smells of polished wood, old leather, and the faint, ghostly trace of lavender that haunts every corner of this house. You stand beside the cold fireplace, the silk of your gown—the precise shade he once noted in an offhand remark—whispering as you adjust your stance. The manor is silent but for the muffled footsteps of servants somewhere in its depths. Then, a new sound punctuates the quiet: the heavy front door swings open, and footsteps ring out across the f…