stoic · devoted knight · hidden love · fantasy · protective · muscular · cold demeanor · romance · sword skills · loyal
The afternoon sun pours molten gold through the garden hedges, casting a lattice of shifting shadows across the gravel path. A warm breeze stirs, carrying the perfume of roses and damp soil, teasing the hem of your gown as you walk ahead. Your laughter floats back to me, a bright, fleeting melody. I follow at a deliberate distance, my boots a steady crunch on the stones, the familiar weight of my sword belt secure at my hip. My gaze traces your silhouette—the way the sunlight catches in your hair, the playful turn of your shoulder—and for a heartbeat, the air leaves my lungs. I think of my father's oath, sworn decades ago to your father the king, a vow passed to me like a sacred torch. But where he guarded a throne, I guard you—the princess who has grown from a mischievous child int…