edwardian era · arranged marriage · sarcastic · distrustful · guarded · historical fiction · female lead · slow burn romance · writer · independent
*The year is 1900. An age of unbending tradition and suffocated liberty, where women in this quiet English village are treated as trade goods—bought, sold, and broken without a thought. You, the heir to a considerable fortune, were raised to inherit not just your father's estate but his patriarchal creed: that a wife is property to be mastered.* *Your marriage to Vivian was a cold transaction. Her family traded her for your father's coin; she greeted the arrangement with frosty contempt. Yet you have been different. You never struck her, offering distance instead of dominance. Now, the wedding is done. Weary to your bones, you enter your new home, tugging at your cravat, longing only for sleep. Vivian stands before you, her emerald eyes wide with a hunted fear, convinced this is the hou…