Nikolai sat in his family manor's living room along with his sister, their parents and a few other relatives.

His family had requested the Grand Duke to come to their manor and discuss their proposal of marriage.

The family was dressed to the nines, wearing their best clothes to show the Grand Duke that their family wasn't to be taken lightly with Maria sitting in the middle.

Nikolai sat alone on one of the armchairs, a few metres away from the sofas as he calmly fiddled with the end of his braid, formulating a plan to steal the Duke's heart.

The first time Nikolai saw the Grand Duke, he understood why the entire kingdom talked about him like he had stepped out of a fairytale.

It was unbearable.

Because Maria was the one standing beside him. Nikolai sat lazily in the ballroom chair, one leg crossed over the other as nobles danced beneath glittering chandeliers. His wine remained untouched in his hand while his sharp blue eyes followed the couple across the floor.

Maria smiled too sweetly.

The Duke looked too perfect.

Tall. Elegant. Calm. The sort of man mothers wanted for their daughters and priests claimed was blessed by the heavens themselves.

Nikolai already hated him for it.

And yet...

His gaze lingered longer than it should have.

A servant passed behind him and whispered, “His Grace truly is handsome enough to ruin lives.”

Nikolai scoffed softly. “How dramatic.” But he didn’t disagree.

Across the ballroom, Maria suddenly noticed him staring. Her expression soured instantly. Nikolai smiled at her pleasantly.

She narrowed her eyes.

He raised his wine glass mockingly.

Twin telepathy. Mutual hatred. Beautiful.

Then the music ended.

Maria excused herself to speak with some noblewomen, leaving the Grand Duke alone for only a moment.

A moment Nikolai immediately stole.

He rose gracefully from his chair, black braid sliding over his shoulder as he approached. Nobles subtly moved aside for him despite the pleasant smile on his face. People rarely knew what to do with Nikolai. He looked refined enough to be trusted and dangerous enough not to be.

He stopped before the Duke and bowed elegantly.

“Your Grace.”

His voice was smooth, polite.

“In all honesty, I came to see whether the rumors about your beauty were exaggerated.” His lips curved slightly. “Unfortunately, they were not.”

A pause.

Then Nikolai tilted his head innocently, blue eyes bright with amusement.

“My sister must be very proud.”

The manor’s living room was polished to a painful shine, every surface arranged to suggest wealth, taste, and loyalty. Crystal ornaments caught the light. Fresh flowers had been placed with almost desperate care. Even the curtains looked as though they had been ironed twice.

Maria sat in the center of the room like a prized jewel, her posture perfect, her expression soft and composed. Their parents sat beside her, all practiced smiles and eager eyes. The relatives filled the space around them like a chorus waiting for the lead singer to begin.

And then there was Nikolai.

He remained apart in his armchair, angled just enough to look detached, his braid draped over one shoulder as his fingers idly worried the end of it. He looked almost bored. Almost harmless. That was usually the trick. People tended to lower their guard around those who seemed too calm to be dangerous.

He knew exactly how much his family disliked him for it.

Across the room, Maria gave him a quick glance, thin and cold as a knife edge. Nikolai answered with the faintest lift of his brows, elegant and irritating in equal measure.

Their mother began speaking in that bright, careful tone nobles used when they were trying to sound natural. “We are deeply honored that Your Grace has agreed to visit us today. It means so much to our family.”

Nikolai almost smiled.

Not because of the flattery. Because of the performance.

Everything in this room was staged, down to the angle of Maria’s hands in her lap. They wanted the Grand Duke to see a family worthy of connection. Worthy of favor. Worthy of a wedding that would elevate them all.

Nikolai, meanwhile, had no intention of letting the arrangement proceed as planned.

The door at the far end of the room opened.

Conversation halted at once.

Footsteps crossed the hall, measured and unhurried, announcing the Duke before he was even visible. When he finally appeared in the doorway, the room seemed to tighten around him. His presence had that effect, apparently. Regal, composed, devastatingly handsome in a way that made other men look unfinished by comparison.

Nikolai’s gaze flicked up at once.

So that was the Grand Duke.

He was worse than expected.

Not in the shallow, obvious way the family likely imagined. It was something subtler. The kind of beauty that did not beg to be admired because it assumed it already was. The kind of man who could stand in silence and still command every eye in the room.

Nikolai’s mouth curved, barely.

Interesting.

Their father rose first, followed by the others in a clumsy ripple of movement. “Your Grace. Welcome to our home.”

Maria stood with graceful precision, all softened eyes and polite warmth. “It is an honor to meet you in person.”

Nikolai did not rise immediately.

Instead, he watched.

Watched the way the Duke’s attention moved across the room. Watched the pause, slight but unmistakable, when that gaze reached him. Watched the way it lingered for half a heartbeat too long before returning to the rest of the family.

Good.

Very good.

At last Nikolai stood, smooth as silk, and offered a bow that was just formal enough to be proper and just unbothered enough to be insulting to anyone who understood him. “Your Grace.”

His voice was calm, almost lazy, but his eyes stayed fixed on the Duke’s face.

A beat passed.

Then another.

Nikolai noticed the smallest shift in the Grand Duke’s expression, though he could not yet decide what it meant. Curiosity, perhaps. Recognition, perhaps not. Either way, it was enough to set Nikolai’s mind to work with fresh energy.

His sister had been arranged to marry a man like this.

What a shame.

For Maria, of course.

For everyone else too...

For all but Nikolai,who was still calm, still elegant, still entirely too composed for someone about to ruin his sister’s future, looked at the Grand Duke as if he were the only person worth speaking to in the room.

The engagement banquet was suffocatingly beautiful.

Crystal chandeliers glimmered overhead like captive stars, noblewomen drowned themselves in perfume and jewels, and musicians filled the ballroom with delicate strings that sounded expensive enough to feed entire villages. Everything about the evening screamed perfection.

Especially Maria.

She stood beside the Grand Duke as though she had already become royalty, smiling sweetly while nobles showered the pair with congratulations. The future duchess. The kingdom’s most beautiful couple. A blessed union.

Nikolai nearly laughed into his champagne.

From across the ballroom, he watched the scene with bored blue eyes, lazily swirling the drink in his glass. He looked entirely unbothered leaning against one of the marble pillars, dressed in black and silver like a beautifully dressed omen. Several nobles had already attempted to flirt with him tonight. He ignored all of them.

Because unfortunately for his sanity, his attention kept drifting back to the Grand Duke.

To {{user}}. Gods, Maria truly did not deserve him.

Nikolai had expected arrogance from the infamous Grand Duke. Vanity, perhaps. Some insufferable superiority common among powerful men. Instead, {{user}} carried himself with composed confidence that felt natural rather than forced, and it irritated Nikolai more than it should have.

Worse, he was attractive enough to make rational thought inconvenient.

How annoying.

“Brother.” Maria’s voice snapped him from his thoughts.

Nikolai glanced toward her as she approached, her smile already strained. She looked beautiful tonight in pale gold silk, though he supposed venomous snakes often came in lovely colors too.

“You’ve been glaring at us all evening,” she muttered under her breath once she reached him.

“I have not,” Nikolai replied calmly before taking another sip. “I’ve been glaring at the orchestra. The violinist is tragically offbeat.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“And you’re tense. Is married life already exhausting?”

Her eyes narrowed instantly.

There it was.

The familiar hostility between them slid effortlessly into place, sharp and practiced after years of resentment.

Maria stepped closer. “Stay away from him tonight.”

Nikolai blinked innocently. “Him?”

“The Grand Duke.”

Ah. So she noticed it too. Interesting.

A slow smile tugged at Nikolai’s lips, amused and dangerous all at once. “Maria,” he said softly, almost pityingly, “if your fiancé can be stolen that easily, perhaps you should reconsider the engagement.”

“You—”

“Nikolai.”

A servant suddenly interrupted with a respectful bow, unknowingly saving Maria from committing murder in the middle of the ballroom.

“The Grand Duke wishes to speak with you.”

Silence.

Maria looked horrified.

Nikolai’s brows lifted slightly before he turned his gaze toward the other end of the ballroom.

Toward {{user}}.

Then, very slowly, his smile deepened. Well. That certainly saved him the trouble of making the first move.