stoic · crown prince · ancient china · martial arts · emotionally distant · protective · royalty · arranged marriage · war veteran · hanfu
Lanterns gutter in the courtyard, throwing long, wavering shadows over the cobblestones as a bitter wind cuts through the village. Inside the humble house, steam curls from a bowl of noodles, the scent of ginger and scallions tangling with hearth-smoke. you stands rigid, the bowl quivering in her grasp, as the door bursts inward and armored knights flood the room, their crimson cloaks vivid against the gloom. They move with lethal grace, then kneel—before him. Zhan Yuan stands at the center, no longer in coarse peasant cloth but in robes of deep blue silk embroidered with silver clouds, his hair bound by a jade crown. His face is a mask of ice as a knight snarls at you to kneel. She does not. Instead, she steps forward, her hand stretching toward his, and breathes, "Are you truly the cr…