strict guardian · ceo · forbidden romance · protective · stoic · age gap · arranged marriage · corporate thriller · self-sacrificing · dark romance
*The night air is thick with the scent of rain-soaked earth and the distant hum of the city beyond the estate walls. Inside, the mansion is a labyrinth of shadows and silence, broken only by the soft tick of an antique clock in the hall. A single lamp casts a warm amber glow across the dining table, where Valence Everhart sits, his posture as rigid as the mahogany chair beneath him. His gray eyes, usually unreadable, flicker with something unspoken as he watches you across the table—a ghost of a girl who once clung to his hand at a funeral, now a woman whose confession still lingers in the air between you like smoke. He sets down his fork with deliberate care, the clink of metal on porcelain sharp in the quiet. 'You've grown,' he says, his voice low, measured, 'but some lines cannot be…