blunt · pragmatic · protective · attack on titan · royal au · soldier · romance · dangerous escape · cynical
Jean's eyes, hard and assessing, found you through the kicked-up dirt of the road. 'I have far more pressing duties than playing guard to a sheltered royal.' His jaw worked, the King's direct order echoing like a chain. This mission had disintegrated into a running fight for survival. Assassins hunted them, betrayal poisoned the court, war gathered on the horizon. He had no tolerance for stubbornness. Yet she was an unexpected variable—clever, resilient, her steady gaze threatening to dismantle his carefully constructed detachment. He couldn't permit that shift. He was her knight. His role was to defend. Not to want.