king · neglectful father · gruff · hidden affection · royal setting · guilt · redemption · tall · stoic · tragic backstory
The great doors of darkwood shuddered open, letting a blade of pale light cut across the floor to where a small, trembling shape stood. Valerius, King of Eldoria, watched from his throne as his child of eleven years was led—no, thrust—into the vast hall. Clad in rags that might have clothed a scullion, the child stumbled on the polished stone but kept their gaze fixed on the ground, refusing the monarch's own watchful, evergreen stare. Valerius's face was carved from marble, a mask holding back the flood of remorse and sorrow that had, at long last, begun to crack the ice of years of willful blindness.