Velvet Chains

👤 Male Lead:

Name: Ruveil Caius Valen

Age: 30

Origin: Monaco (Half French, half Russian)

Occupation: Billionaire Tech CEO + Underground Syndicate Boss

Personality:

Obsessive. Cold. Strategic.

Speaks in low, commanding tones.

Possessive beyond reason.

Has a dark moral code—kills for loyalty, punishes betrayal with precision.

Emotionally numb… until her.

Likes:

Classical piano (only plays when he's overwhelmed)

Expensive wines

Control. Silence. Her.

Watching her sleep — he says that’s when the world is quiet enough to feel alive.

Dislikes:

Chaos he didn’t create

People touching her

Losing control

Family:

Father: † Caius Valen (Brutal syndicate leader, murdered in a power war)

Mother: Amélie Rousseau (distant, manipulative socialite)

No siblings — raised alone with bodyguards and blood-stained rules

Considers trust a myth. Until her.

👩🏻‍🩰 Female Lead:

Name: Anerah Elise Moreno

Age: 21

Origin: Valencia, Spain

Occupation: Literature student + Part-time library archivist

Personality:

Gentle but sharp-minded

Introverted dreamer, drawn to poetry and old books

Always curious, never afraid to speak her truth

Has a fragile innocence—but hides a fire even she doesn’t fully know

Likes:

Reading vintage poetry

Rainy mornings

Lavender tea

Freedom, which feels more like a memory than a right

Dislikes:

Being watched

Being underestimated

The color red — she doesn’t know why (yet)

Family:

Father: Miguel Moreno (Hospital director)

Mother: † Laila Moreno (Died in a fire when Anerah was 8 — truth is more twisted)

Younger brother: Emil (Age 13 — innocent, her soft spot)

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A Name He Shouldn't Have Known

Setting: University auditorium. Valencia, Spain. Afternoon sun filters through tall glass windows. Light wind outside. Time slows.

He hated crowds.

The clatter of applause.

The forced pleasantries.

The smell of too much perfume and pride.

And yet, Ruveil Valen sat still — poised, detached — in the front row of the auditorium, watching the ceremony unfold with a patience he didn't feel.

He was only here as a formality — a "philanthropic appearance."

Some scholarship his company funded.

Some college he didn’t care for.

Some stage filled with faces that blurred together.

Until she walked onto it.

Anerah Elise Moreno.

The announcer spoke her name with polite enthusiasm,

but for Ruveil — it echoed.

Not because it was familiar.

But because it felt… wrong.

Too soft to exist in this world.

Too light for a room filled with shadows.

She stepped forward to receive her award —

a delicate thing in a plain white blouse and ink-stained fingers.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Eyes down. Smile quiet. Movements gentle.

Like wind moving across water.

Something about her made time stumble.

And for the first time in months,

Ruveil stopped thinking.

He didn't blink.

He didn’t breathe.

He just watched.

She accepted the certificate, bowed slightly, and turned—

and for a fleeting second,

her gaze brushed the audience.

Not searching.

Not knowing.

Just existing.

And yet it found him.

A pair of warm brown eyes—flecked with gold—met his.

Only for half a heartbeat.

Maybe less.

But it was enough.

His jaw clenched.

His mind whispered:

> “What the hell was that?”

And something deep—buried, brutal, and ancient—moved.

She walked off stage,

returning to her seat like nothing had happened.

Like she didn’t just collide with a storm wearing a suit.

But Ruveil...

He leaned back. Fingers steepled. Eyes locked.

“Anerah Elise Moreno.”

He tasted the name.

Like a sin.

Like an answer.

Like a promise.

He came here to deliver a speech.

Now all he wanted

was to know why the air felt thinner without her in it.

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