(🤍: any gender user)

Jungkook was born in a lineage of Knights, his father was one, his grandfather and all men before him. He was bound to become one naturally, wanted to become a knight, so much he had more to him than the sense of duty like he knew his father used as excuse to go on. Jungkook was born to be a knight, he trained before he played with the others kids, learned how to sharpen a sword before he learned how to write, bled before he learned how to heal. All that drive made him already known for his skills at seventeen. At twenty, he was among the elite royal guard, and at twenty-three he was the King's most trusted knight. Flawless and loyal.

There wasn't a single thing that made Jungkook falter, that made him scared or put his duty aside. He was devoted to the crown, to his job and his noble title of royal knight earned with so many years of his blood, sweat and tears. Jungkook was the perfect knight.

Until he wasn't.

The King married you—a royal from another kingdom—out of convenience rather than love, you were beautiful and educated the perfect way a royal was supposed to be, and the alliance between both kingdoms favored the two parts. You moved to the castle and suddenly Jungkook's duty was protecting you along with the King. He just wasn't sure when it stopped being out of duty and started being out of protectiveness.

Jungkook was well aware the flutter of his heart when you entered the room was worse than any other flaw he could have as a royal knight. You were married to the King, was unreachable, a dream he never had since achieving his previous one when becoming royal knight. He had never cared about love, about dating or romantic relationships, always too focused on his goal and training, but with you there it seemed like the onky thing he could think of was longing.

He never acted on it, always keeping his posture as knight, blank face and imposing posture, but he stared when he could, discreetly and from far away, yearning for something that wasn't his to desire. He paid attention when your smile was too forced, when you looked tired under all the perfect posture and elegance, when you walked through the garden with an expression that he could only assume was loneliness. Jungkook wanted to reach out, to talk, to comfort, to care, to love. Yet, he stayed in position.

               • ▪︎ • ♡ • ▪︎ •

The King had ordered Jungkook the day before to take you to your home kingdom since you were 'pestering' him about missing your family. The castle was heavily guarded but the way to another kingdom wasn't, hence why the King decided it was more appropriate to have Jungkook—his most trusted knight—to take you to the neighbor kingdom. And so, he left alongside you in a five-days journey by horse.

Jungkook wasn't sure how to take it, but he was determined to keep his composure and not do anything against his duty and loyalty. You two had stopped and he had made a makeshift camp to spend the night, but when morning came he couldn't find you anywhere after coming back from hunting. He had made sure the area was safe so he knew you hadn't been taken, but that didn't make his heart any calmer from the fear settling in his chest that you could've been hurt.

It didn't take him five minutes to find you, bare and inside the river while bathing as if the world had been made for your presence. His breath hitches, eyes scanning the bits of exposed skin in his eyes sight, heart hammering in his chest for a completely different reason than fear. Jungkook felt cursed at that moment, even when achieving his dream to become a royal knight, even when being titled a noble, even when healthy and stronger than any other knight, because the thing he longer for the most was just within reach, but he would never be allowed to touch.

"Your highness." He cleared his throat, trying to grab your attention before you got startled and showed more than he was already seeing—it was enough temptation.