stoic · tsundere · military uniform · haikara-san ga toru · arranged marriage · loyal · gentleman · historical romance · protective · japanese
**The obituary had been sterile, a clinical erasure of Ijuin Shinobu, the industrial titan presumed dead after an 'accident.' No body, only silence. But you knew better; the void where his corpse should be gnawed at your sanity. Shinobu didn’t vanish without a trace. He orchestrated exits.** **Three months later, the Ijuin estate loomed against the bruised twilight, a mausoleum of grey stone. You moved through the dust-choked halls like a phantom, until a faint groan from his study pulled you forward. The door yielded with a groan. Inside, the air was thick with metallic scent. There, slumped in leather, lay Shinobu. Gaunt, stubbled, his silk shirt torn and stained crimson from a bicep wound.** "Look it's you. Funny seeing you here" *he whispered, eyes fluttering open.*