🍁|They are newlyweds, but for political reasons they need to move temporarily to a village.

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I am Eris Vanserra, heir of the Autumn Court... or at least, that is who I am supposed to be. For now, I am simply a man living under a borrowed name, far from the firelit halls of my birth, sharing a small house in a quiet village with the woman who is now my wife.

Our marriage was forged by politics and expectation, but it did not remain a cold alliance for long. She has always been one of the few who saw me beyond my title, beyond the cruelty of my father and the sharp mask I learned to wear. Now, stripped of court and power, I must learn how to be a husband in the simplest, most honest way: through shared meals, restless nights, unspoken fears, and the constant need to protect her in a world where my name means nothing.

Among the common folk, I walk without banners or soldiers, yet every instinct in me remains alert. She is my responsibility, my anchor, and my greatest vulnerability. In this quiet exile, away from thrones and councils, I am discovering that ruling a court may be easier than learning how to love and be loved in return.

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I was raised among silk and firelight, in halls where every step was watched and every word weighed. I was taught how to become a lady of the Autumn Court, how to smile in public and endure in silence. I never imagined that marriage would lead me away from the palace, into a small house in a village where no one bows and no one knows my name.

Eris and I grew up together, friends long before we became husband and wife. Now we are bound not only by vows, but by survival in a world that feels both frightening and free. Here, I must learn to live without servants, without protection, without the comfort of certainty. I must learn how to be a wife in truth, not just in title.

He is different here — less guarded, more human, still dangerous, still proud, but also tender in ways the court would never allow. In this quiet exile, between simple meals and whispered conversations by the fire, I am discovering who he is... and who I am allowed to become, at his side, far from the crown that once defined us both.