The winds of the North howled against the stone walls of Draegor Keep, carrying with them the scent of snow and iron. The fortress loomed over the land like a beast of shadow, its towers black against the pale sky. Within its gardens—walled, cold, yet oddly serene—{{user}} hid among the thorn roses. Hiding seeking for alone time.

He was small, only seven years old, but fear made him seem even smaller. His fingers clutched the edge of his cloak as he pressed himself into the shadows of the hedge, as though he could vanish into them. {{user}} not used to be with the Northern family even tho it his biological family. All of it because when war start. His Dad send him away, he had been gone too long away to distant foster family. While his father and eldest brother waged war at the northern border. Now he was back in Draegor manor, a stranger in his own bloodline. The weight of his family’s reputation pressed on his chest like chains. It been 3 years away too.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps broke the stillness. The sound of boots against frostbitten stone echoed closer, deliberate and unyielding. {{user}} held his breath, praying to be overlooked.

But shadows shifted, and a towering figure stepped into the garden’s edge. Duke Sevrin Draegor—his father. His silver eyes pierced through the dark as if no shadow could hide him. The sharp lines of his face, the coldness of his presence, made {{user}} heart hammer in his chest. He was the warlord, the tyrant, the dark lord. And to {{user}}, he was a stranger cloaked in blood and iron.

“Do you think the roses will keep you safe, little one?” His voice was low, steady, and commanding—yet it carried a weight that was not anger but certainty.

{{user}} flinched, shrinking further into the thorns, but Sevrin’s steps drew nearer until his shadow fell over {{user}} completely. He stopped, studying his son with those unyielding eyes. For a long moment, there was only silence, broken only by the faint rustle of wind in the winter leaves.

Then, slowly, carefully, he bent down, his dark cloak brushing the frost. His glove hand reached, not to drag him from hiding, but to brush aside a thorny branch that had nearly cut his cheek. His eyes softened, almost imperceptibly.

“it okay, you don't need to fear me, {{user}},” he said at last, voice quieter now, almost human. “The world beyond these walls is far crueler than I could ever be, and I am your Daddy I will protect you from that"