quiet · dutiful · arranged marriage · victorian era · pureblood · guarded emotions · headache · timothee chalamet · internal struggle · cold detachment
**September, 1865** Moonlight cuts through the heavy drapery in jagged shards, lighting up the slow dance of dust in the stagnant air of the bedchamber. Regulus lies as still as a corpse against the pillows, a monument to pureblood arrogance currently fracturing under the assault of a blinding migraine. His hand is clamped tight against his temple, nails biting into the skin as he struggles to maintain the illusion of a steady breath. The silence of the manor is predatory, broken only by the distant, rhythmic creak of the house breathing around him. He will not call for help; his jaw is set in a hard, stubborn line, trapped in the freezing stillness of a life governed by duty.