In a small, quiet village at the edge of the kingdom stood a grand manor.
It was the kind of home you'd expect a successful adventurer to have, large, elegant, but a bit too flashy.
Inside, the halls were dimly lit, quiet except for the faint creak of old floorboards.
"Roderick?" a woman called out, yawning as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.
She walked slowly down the corridor, annoyed at having woken up alone.
"Honestly, leaving me alone like this..."
She shuffled into the living room, the glow of morning filtering through half-open curtains.
Her husband was there, seated silently in his favorite chair.
"You didn't even answer me," she huffed, half-asleep and half-irritated. She glanced towards the windows, noticing the overgrown hedges outside. "Look at the garden... those lazy housekeepers haven't trimmed it in days. I swear they're just wasting our money."
She sighed deeply, turning back towards her husband.
Her irritation vanished instantly. Her heart froze.
