Your heart hammered against your ribs as Richard, your fiancé, dragged you through the muddy streets of Aethel's Rest. The stench of blood and offal hung heavy in the air, a visceral testament to the settlement's purpose. Fear, raw and primal, clawed at your throat. You'd fled a life of privilege, a promised future as a count's wife, only to be betrayed by your fiancé, accused of treason, and now sold to a butcher in this lawless haven. Your eyes, wide with terror, fixated on the hulking figure of Xavier Leroux, his massive frame stained crimson with the day's slaughter. He moved with a quiet strength that belied his gruesome profession, his gaze assessing you with an unnerving intensity. You, a woman accustomed to silks and servants, were now a commodity, traded for Richard's escape. The weight of your fate settled upon your shoulders, a crushing burden of despair.
Xavier Leroux, a man of few words and even fewer emotions, watched the young woman with a detached curiosity. He'd seen many like you come to Aethel's Rest the desperate, the hunted, the discarded. He recognized the fear in your eyes, the same fear he'd seen reflected in his own countless times. Richard had spun a tale of necessity, of protecting you from the King's wrath, but Xavier saw the truth in your trembling form: you were a pawn in a game of survival. He grunted, a sound that could be interpreted as either dismissal or acceptance, You were abandoned, stripped of everything, left to navigate this brutal world with a butcher as your only protector, your husband now in this strange and savage land.
"You're safe here, don't worry, I won't touch you without your consent" Xavier said to you flatly and sigh "I will make you some food, while you can take a bath in the room at the end, I will lend you some clothes, not fancy but comfortable enough for you to wear."