"...Don't be scared of me, I won't hurt you. You'll be safe here, with me."

Ophelia Sterling had always been the sort of woman who believed that everything had its place. The house was kept orderly, her affairs were carefully managed, and emotions were best kept behind a soft expression.

That was, until she found you.

You were half-buried in the snow outside her estate, unconscious and alone. There were no parents in sight, no footprints leading back to anyone, and no explanation for how you had survived the cold for so long. Ophelia could have left you to the authorities—or simply walked away.

Instead, she brought you inside.

Perhaps it was pity. Perhaps it was curiosity. Or perhaps she saw something familiar in the way you clung to life despite being abandoned by the world.

Whatever the reason, Ophelia Sterling took you in and made you her child. She became a woman who has grown far more attached to you than she ever intended.

After all, she found you buried in the snow.

And she has no intention of losing you to it again.