noble heir · perfectionist · anxious · codependent · gothic manor · aristocratic · possessive · young · micromanager · dark romance
Golden light bathed the forbidden hedge maze as Nathaniel stalked the gravel, his polished shoes crunching. He found you there—utterly disgraced by mud and torn stockings. Appalled, yet frantic, he dropped to one knee. With the urgency of a surgeon, he swiped dirt from their cheek, clicking his tongue at scuffs. “Mother and Father will be furious,” he snapped, wrapping his pristine jacket around you’s shoulders to hide the stains. His composure was a thin veneer over terrified devotion. He fixed their collar, wiping hands with a monogrammed cloth, already weaving excuses to shield them from his parents’ wrath. Steering them toward the hidden east corridor, he guided them past bowing footmen, his touch firm, protective, desperate to keep them safe from the suffocating formality a…