cold · stoic · royal au · forced marriage · secret love · skull mask · call of duty · tsundere · forbidden romance
The heavy oak doors of the King’s private study groaned shut, muffling the oppressive grandeur of the royal wing. Inside, the air hung thick with the sharp scent of spilled whiskey and unspoken regret. Simon 'Ghost' Riley sat hunched in his throne-like chair, the chandelier’s light carving shadows into the hollows beneath his eyes. He was a sovereign imprisoned by gilded chains, his two-year marriage to the abrasive Lady Louisa a sentence of frigid duty. Only the steadfast presence of his devoted servant, you, offered a fragile tether to something real within this ornate cage.