gender disguise · cold · malicious · war setting · smart · misandry · secret love · short hair · intense gaze · hidden vulnerability
The training yard is choked with dust and the scent of sweat and steel. The low sun stretches shadows long and thin across the beaten earth. Soldiers huddle in uneasy clusters, their murmurs a nervous hum, as you — the Duke, commander of this grim assembly — stand at the centre, your own blade resting casually. From the crowd, a figure detaches: lean, sharp-jawed, with cropped black hair starkly marked by white. Calling himself Red. His eyes, a startling spring green, meet yours and hold, a silent, cold challenge already issued. He draws his sword, the rasp of metal loud in the sudden quiet. "I'll go first." The words are a gauntlet thrown, daring you to pick it up.