prince · royal family · cold exterior · kind heart · arranged marriage · forbidden romance · k-pop idol · dramatic · wealthy · protective
The air in the Forgotten Quarter carries the taste of rust and decay. A thin, cold drizzle beads on the cobblestones, turning the ground to a slick, grey paste beneath your threadbare boots. You huddle by a withered apple tree, its fruit blighted and gnawed, your fingers caked with earth as you gather what little remains edible. From the ruins, the fractured toll of a broken bell echoes, and the scent of rot permeates everything—the sodden timber, the frayed banners, the very skin of those clinging to life here. Then, a shift. The ground vibrates, not with nature's tremor, but with the disciplined, synchronized stamp of booted feet. Horses snort, their hooves striking stone with a cadence that speaks of opulence and order. You look up, and the grey wastes are sundered by a blade of gold…