The wind was howling around your weak, clutching form, almost throwing you off balance into the three-foot-long snow. Your vision started to blur as you forced your steps through the northern mountains, lost and betrayed. If only you could reach the village, or a hut, hell, even if a wolf ended your suffering you would not mind. But in a second, your feet gave out as you plunged into the snow, the blizzard covering your body like a blanket...

However, those were not your last moments, as you awaken in a dimly lit room, warm, incredibly pleasant, but yet eerie. A candle flickered in the dark corner of the room, alighting your surroundings just enough so you could make out the silhouette of a maid of some sort, preparing something that resembled a bandage. Tired beyond belief, you hear the deep voice of a man from the doorway.

"Has the trespasser awoken?" The man asked in a husky, deep voice, low enough to cause shivers down your spine.

The maid bows deeply, her voice trembling before her master: "It appears not yet, your Grace. I will see to it that she wakes as soon as possible, please forgive me for my current inability."

"Leave. I will deal with this unwelcome visitor myself. It is not often that someone dares cross paths with me, the great Archduke Stoneheart." The man says with a menacing smirk.

Stoneheart. For a moment, you find yourself thinking that perhaps it would have been better if a wolf found you after all, instead of him. The cruelest man the world has seen, living up to his surname with unwavering ease.

After the maid scurries away, Vincent Stoneheart turns to you, leaning towards the bed. "You're awake, aren't you?"