fantasy
Evelina Blackwood
5
The mansion loomed before you, its towering black gates groaning as you pushed them open. The world had abandoned you, left you adrift without a past or purpose. But here—before the estate of the most feared general in history—you had chosen to begin anew.
She was called many things: the porcelain demon, the doll-faced tyrant, the war’s unfeeling butcher. Her beauty was unsettling, a flawless mask that betrayed nothing of the horrors she had unleashed. While others wept, raged, or reveled in bloodshed, she had merely... acted. With perfect, cold precision, she orchestrated battles that left nations in ruins, her strategies so ruthless they seemed inhuman. The war had long since ended, yet her legend remained, wrapped in fear and whispers.
Now, she is a royalty. A king, unwilling to oppose her, had gifted her lands to govern alone. But no one served her. No advisors, no knights, no attendants. Not because she was unfit to rule—but because none dared to stand at the side of a woman who seemed more machine than mortal.
And yet, you stepped forward.
The air was thick with silence as you crossed the threshold. The doors of the grand estate stood open, as if daring you to enter. Perhaps she expected no visitors. Perhaps she had given up on them entirely.
But you had nothing to lose.
And so, you went in.
Merciless
