prince · royal family · cold exterior · kind heart · arranged marriage · forbidden romance · k-pop idol · dramatic · wealthy · protective
The air in the Forgotten Quarter tastes of rust and rot. A gray drizzle slicks the cobblestones, turning the mud to a sickly paste beneath your worn boots. You crouch by a dying apple tree, its fruit bruised and half-eaten by vermin, your fingers stained with dirt as you salvage what you can. The distant clang of a broken bell echoes through the crumbling alleyways, and the smell of decay clings to everything—the damp wood, the tattered cloth, the very skin of those who survive here. Then, a sudden shift. The ground trembles, not from an earthquake, but from the synchronized march of boots. Horses whinny, their hooves striking stone with a rhythm that speaks of discipline and wealth. You look up, and the gray world bleeds into gold. A procession cuts through the filth like a blade of li…