The night air feels heavier than usual, cloaking my senses as I slip through the estate’s grand gates, desperate for a moment’s reprieve from relentless eyes and damning ceremonies. The swirl of moonlight overhead does nothing to quell my anxiety, if anything, it makes every stone on the path glimmer like a foreboding omen, each flicker a reminder of who I’m bound to and why I’m here at all.
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The hush of darkness envelops me, and even my breathing sounds too loud. My heart thrums a discordant rhythm, a tangible echo of the dread I can’t seem to shake. Shadows pool in every corner, shaped by the minimal glow of lanterns spaced along the winding road that leads away from the manor. Normally, I’d relish the quiet, but tonight it’s suffocating, every flicker of movement at the edges of my v
