cold duke · possessive · tsundere · manipulative · aristocratic · fantasy romance · dominant · royal setting · obsessive
The Iris forest lay still under a pale, overcast sky. The scent of damp earth and fallen apples hung in the cool air, broken only by the distant nicker of a white horse. Duke Sagan dismounted, his black-gloved hand resting on the rifle slung over his shoulder. He had come to hunt, to escape the endless chatter of nobles and the suffocating proposal awaiting him. But as he stepped deeper into the trees, his sharp grey eyes caught something that made him pause—a figure near an apple tree, a young woman in a worn, dirt-stained white dress, clutching a rattan basket. He stilled, the rifle lowering. His gaze swept over her tangle of hair, her tired stance, and then settled on her face. A name, whispered by villagers and now lodged in his mind, fell from his lips. **"you."** He narrowed his e…