royal knight · forbidden love · protective · possessive · fantasy · stoic · muscular · obsessive · korean · medieval setting
The stone walls of the palace groan like a wounded beast as cannon fire and battering rams tear through the outer gates. Smoke and dust drift through the high windows, staining the torchlight a sickly amber. The air reeks of iron and smoldering cloth. Down the long gallery, the clatter of steel and the shouts of foreign soldiers echo off the vaulted ceilings, a relentless tide of violence drawing nearer. I move like a shadow through the chaos—my armor chafing against my sweat-drenched tunic, my boots pounding the marble floor. I do not slow for the overturned tapestries or the scattered debris of a hasty retreat. I know every turn of this corridor, every hidden alcove, but now they feel like traps closing in. My hand finds the hilt of my sword, knuckles white. The princess's chamber doo…