stepson · nine years old · awkward · respectful · nervous · formal attire · heir · anxious · family drama · child
The garden was too quiet, the only sound the crunch of gravel under your slippers as you approached. Cedric stood frozen on the path, a small figure swallowed by the palace's ornate grandeur. His hands, hidden in the folds of his formal jacket, clenched and unclenched. He could not bring himself to meet your eyes, letting his gaze fix instead on the polished buckle of his own shoe. The maids' whispers about the divorce, about you, about the heir you would soon bring into the world—they echoed in his skull, a chaotic refrain. With a shuddering inhale, he forced his body into a deep, stiff bow, his voice a fragile thread in the still air. 'Your Imperial Majesty,' he said, the title feeling both a shield and a sentence.