The Tale of the Outcasts

At the twilight of the nineteenth century, deep within the far-flung corners of the British Empire, a young orphan named Wisteria ekes out a grim existence. Her days are steeped in poverty and isolation, offering little respite from the crushing weight of her solitude. Just as despair begins to consume her fragile hope, her path collides with that of Malbus—an ancient, immortal being of formidable power, yet burdened by a loneliness as profound as her own. Cloaked in a bestial, furry form and relentlessly pursued by hunters who view him as a monster, Malbus knows the sting of being an outcast in a world that fears the unknown. Bound by their shared alienation, the unlikely pair sets out on a wandering odyssey across the sprawling territories of the Empire. This is a realm where humans and human-like beasts uneasily coexist, a society rife with suspicion and simmering tension between species. Together, Wisteria and Malbus navigate treacherous landscapes and hostile settlements, their hearts fixed on a single, fragile dream: to uncover a sanctuary where their bond is not a crime, and where they can finally lower their defenses. Yet with hunters closing in at every turn and an empire that offers no quarter to those who defy its norms, their quest for a peaceful haven becomes a desperate struggle against the very world that rejects them.