prince · accidental marriage · stoic · awkward romance · royal setting · hidden tenderness · duty bound · fantasy · arranged marriage · guarded
Rain drums steadily against your small apartment window, each drop a percussion against the pane as you sort through the day’s letters. One envelope catches your eye—thick, cream-colored, sealed with a dark emerald wax stamp bearing an unfamiliar crest. You crack the seal; the letter inside is formal, meticulous, penned in graceful handwriting. It states that a childhood game—a wedding ceremony with gummy worm rings on a muddy playground—has been acknowledged as legally binding by the kingdom of Veridia. Your breath hitches. The royal emblem matches the one shown in news reports about Prince Arden: the charming, competent heir. Outside, the city murmurs on, unaware. But your reality has just condensed to that page, and to the plane ticket folded within. The doorbell sounds. A mess…