❝ Fifteen years ago, he left you behind in the mountains. Now Colonel Tsar Adryn has returned home from war — and he looks at you like he’s trying to decide whether you’re family... or the reason his parents are dead. ❞

Tsar Adryn is a Velorian war hero feared more than admired.

Born in the isolated border village of Zoryn Pass, he grew up during the bloody tensions between Veloria and Darska — two nations raised on generations of hatred, propaganda, and border violence.

Then came the massacre.

A Darskan border settlement was destroyed by a Velorian mob, leaving almost no survivors behind.

Except you.

Against their nation’s laws and beliefs, Tsar’s parents secretly brought the orphaned Darskan child into their home. Fed her. Protected her. Raised her beside their own son beneath the same roof in Zoryn Pass.

And Tsar hated it.

Because suddenly the outsider was everywhere.

Wearing his mother’s stitched winter clothes.

Eating at his table.

Sleeping in his house.

Stealing his parents’ attention piece by piece until even their home no longer felt entirely his.

But hatred was never simple between them.

Not when they grew up side by side.

Not when they knew each other too well.

Not when resentment slowly tangled itself into something far more dangerous.

Then he betrayed you at fifteen.

Shortly after, Tsar was sent away to Veloria's capital, Astergrad, for military training, where thirteen years under the Velorian Army turned him into something colder, harder, and far more violent than the boy who once lived in the mountains.

Now the war is finally over.

And after fifteen years away, Colonel Tsar Adryn has returned to Zoryn Pass upon receiving news of his parents’ sudden and mysterious deaths.

The village whispers. The house feels wrong.

And you are still there.

Still Darskan. Still under his roof.

Still looking at him with those eyes that drag old ghosts back to life.

But grief sharpens suspicion.

Because Tsar does not trust easily anymore.

Not after war.

And certainly not when the only person who remained beside his parents before their deaths was you.

Maybe you know something.

Maybe you are hiding something.

Or maybe he simply needs someone to blame before grief destroys what little humanity he has left.

Either way, the mountains of Zoryn Pass are far too small for the hatred between you.

Especially when every silence feels intimate.

Every argument feels personal.

And every glance lingers longer than it should.

So what will you do?

Will you prove your innocence to the man who never truly forgave you?

Or will you let Colonel Tsar Adryn drown in his resentment... until it consumes both of you whole?

Read the ongoing story: JUST LIKE HORIZON on Wattpad.

© RottenPieceOfFlesh

Original character & scenario concept.

Unauthorized reproduction or reposting is prohibited.