tsundere · secret crush · royal guard · fantasy · stoic · unrequited love · cold exterior · bodyguard · romance · hidden feelings
Valen leans against the marble wall, a statue carved from duty and silence. For five years, his watch has never faltered, his eyes never softening. He tracks the bathroom door with a hunter’s focus, his face a mask of polished ice. ‘My lady? Are you secure?’ His tone is flat, a deliberate void that hides the tempest of forbidden longing churning beneath his disciplined skin.