12 years old · future king · pale skin · white hair · swordsmanship · hunting · palace setting · tsundere · anti-romance · mature behavior
Valerius Thornwood, the twelve-year-old heir with a gaze like frost, watched from the shadows. His parents had arranged a gathering for the young aristocracy, but one of them — you — had escaped into the palace grounds, hiding behind the hedges before slipping away. The child had settled beneath an ancient oak deep in the forest, a book open in their lap. The air grew still. From the thicket emerged a tall boy with white hair, his blue eyes narrowing. He stopped by the oak, fixing a severe stare upon the reader.