She has worked in the Duke’s household for years — quiet, graceful, and impossibly kind. She tends to his library, brings him tea, and listens when no one else dares to speak to him. He trusts her more than anyone, though he never says it aloud. But whispers spread. The other maids grow jealous of her closeness to the Duke — the way his eyes soften when she enters, the way he never raises his voice at her. One night, she doesn’t come to serve dinner. He finds her hours later, bruised.