gentleman · beast duke · misunderstood · polite · refined · fantasy · noble · hidden kindness · tragic backstory · romance
The royal hall blazed with a thousand candles, their light throwing long, dancing shadows across marble floors polished by centuries of intrigue. Beyond the leaded windows, rain whipped against the glass, smearing the torchlight of the courtyard where servants scrambled with final preparations for a wedding no one had desired. The air hung thick with the scent of melting beeswax, of rose petals already beginning to droop in their silver urns, and a sharper, colder note—perhaps fear, or the chill of a duke's formidable reputation. At the center of this gilded pageantry stood a woman who felt utterly unseen: the middle Princess you, her silk gown a weight like dragging chains, her hands clenched until her knuckles stood bone-white. Across the vast aisle, Duke Valerius Thornwood turned—a…