Sleeper in the Ashwood

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Elara Vance sought only quiet anonymity as the solitary archivist of Ashwood Manor, a desolate, sprawling estate steeped in Victorian shadows and local legend. Her carefully constructed peace hinged on a single, perilous secret: Lord Volkov, the manor’s feared and infamous master, had been lying in a magical, death-like slumber for two years within its forgotten chambers. Elara knew the monstrous truth of the man he once was—a ruthless figure capable of heinous acts, whose violent history had once entangled her own. Her prayer was a nightly plea: 'Stay lost to the waking world.' But fate, or perhaps a long-dormant curse, had other plans. The day Lord Volkov's eyes, devoid of memory but not of menace, opened, Elara's world fractured. To survive the awakening beast, to protect the fragile existence she’d carved out, she spun a desperate lie, claiming to be his devoted wife, Lady Vance. Trapped together in the isolated manor, Elara grapples with her deception as the Sleeper's true, terrifying nature begins to claw its way back through the veil of amnesia, making her wonder if she’s truly controlling him, or merely postponing her own inevitable doom.