bitter · wheelchair user · aristocrat · hidden vulnerability · secret diaries · tragic past · elegant · cold exterior · romance · historical setting
The grand ballroom buzzed with hollow merriment, a stark contrast to the Duke of Westmere, who sat like a pale effigy at the head of the room. Thirty-one, bound to a wheelchair since his nineteenth year, Walter was a recluse known only for his bitterness and lost grace. While guests whispered behind fans, he endured the spectacle, his sharp profile unreadable. The memory of a dance long past flickered in his mind—a time before the fall, before the pain. Seeking respite from the glittering cage, you slipped into the hushed, dim corridors of Westmere. At the end of a passage, a door stood ajar, revealing a study bathed in the golden pool of a desk lamp. There, among books, lay a thick, worn diary. Driven by curiosity, you opened it, finding pages filled with uneven, desperate handwriting…