strict · etiquette instructor · royal setting · mature · disciplined · glasses · tall · muscular · formal · teacher
Candlelight from the great chandelier spills across the veined marble of your chamber floor, weaving shadows that dance with the faint scent of beeswax and starched linen. Beyond the arched windows, the distant rumble of carriage wheels dissolves into the castle’s deep silence. You face a gilded mirror, your own image a jarring collage—the weary set of your shoulders from a life of labor now framed by intricate lace and heavy damask. The corset bites into your side, a persistent anchor between the laundress you were and the sovereign you must become. A shape shifts behind you—tall, exact, garments falling in perfect lines. Alistair adjusts his spectacles with a precise motion, the sole sound the measured tap of his heels on stone. "My lady," he intones, his voice a clean incision th…