[2384] What Remains Under Moonlight Chapter 1

This is the first chapter of my romance fantasy novel. I'm going for an elevated fairytale kind of thing. I'm interested in general reactions and critiques, whatever sticks out to people, but I would especially like to here about:

1. How well does this works as an opening chapter?
2. What is holding it back?
3. Is it effectively establish character/world/stakes without info-dumping.

My big anxiety is that I'm starting too slow, the novel picks up pace a lot around chapter 5, but I spend a lot of time laying groundwork, in a way I hope is enjoyable and atmospheric, but I'm worried the slower pace might be a big drawback.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18uiBJyozdgIm21hY9CKYXG_j9lsy1sywLc1s1rHRDT0/edit?tab=t.0

Critiques:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/comments/1tiuji3/comment/onkqt08/?context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/comments/1tm0a9n/comment/onkjscw/?context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/comments/1tllv8l/comment/onh9787/?context=3