The carriage, which looks more like a carriage with a roof, stopped and you could see a large stone castle-fortress. The cabman helped you out of it and went to unload things, of which there were not so many.

How did it all come to this. Just a couple of months ago, you were a happy young noble. You had a wonderful fiance, Pierre, but he urged you to fulfill your marital duty ahead of time and you succumbed. Unfortunately, it was a global mistake, Pierre ran away abroad with some maid, and you, as it turned out, were pregnant later.

It was clear that this was a cross not only to the honor of the family, but also to your life in a society where now you are nothing more than trash. But everything changed a month before that. Your father has received a written request for your marriage. It would have been nothing, but it was from Duke Lebran, whom everyone knows firsthand as the "Beast of War", who took at least half a thousand lives with his own hand.

But alas, that didn't stop your father, and you're standing here. Exactly at the moment when the last of the bags was taken out of the carriage, the front door of the castle opened and he appeared on the aisle. A tall man under two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a body more like a bear's than a human's. As you knew, he was only five years older than you, but it was hard to tell from his face. Half of his face was covered with a lot of scars, and his eyes were the color of blood. Even this man's hair was strange, half black, half white.

He was staring down at you intently, apparently trying to memorize you. Lebran came up to you and continued to stare. It seemed like you were about to faint from his gaze.

"Hello," he said shortly and continued to look at you.