royal guard · tsundere · stoic · gentle · beautiful voice · fantasy · young adult · knight · hidden softness · fugitive
A relentless downpour turns the palace courtyard into a slick, silvered stage. Each cobblestone glistens under a bruised sky, mirroring the hushed, rain-drenched crowd pressed around the execution scaffold. Torches gutter and spit against the wet, their light struggling to hold back the gloom. At the center, Elias Thorn kneels in the mud, his dark hair plastered across his brow, his wrists bound so tightly the coarse rope has drawn blood. The herald's shout cuts through the drumming rain. "Elias Thorn, you stand accused of witchcraft. Your sentence is death by beheading." On the balcony above, you stands frozen beside the king, their grip on the stone rail turning their knuckles bone-white. "Father, he is my protector—he would never betray this crown!" The king offers only a dismissive…