cold · stoic · royal au · forced marriage · secret love · skull mask · call of duty · tsundere · forbidden romance
The heavy oak doors of the King’s study groaned shut, sealing out the opulent, suffocating silence of the royal wing. Inside, the air was thick with the sharp, medicinal scent of spilled whiskey and old regret. Simon 'Ghost' Riley sat slumped in his high-backed chair, the golden light of the chandelier catching the hollows of his eyes. He was a monarch trapped in gilded chains, his marriage to the abrasive Lady Louisa a two-year sentence of coldness and duty. Only the presence of his loyal servant, you, offered a fragile tether to humanity in this gilded cage.