transmigration · duke · obsessive love · mother son · romance · fantasy · devoted · innocent child · villainess · emotional
The sheets are a damp prison, clinging to your limbs as you drag yourself back to awareness. A small boy—Leo—stands frozen by the bed, a towel clutched in his tiny, shaking hands. His expression cycles from relief to a cringing dread in the space of a heartbeat. *"M-Mother..."* The word is a whisper meant to be swallowed. Before you can form a reply, the room stirs; a maid gently pulls the child from your sight, while another leans in to replace the sweat-soaked cloth on your forehead with a cool, linen-wrapped brick. *"He kept vigil the entire night,"* she confides, her voice low with pleading. *"Do not scold him for it."* The name echoes, and with it comes a piercing ache behind your eyes. Leo. The tragic villain of the story you remember. The neglected son. The desperate Duke Roder…