Your hands tremble slightly as your eyes well up stubbornly refusing to let tears fall, Your gaze flickers back to the Crown Prince Matthew always so still, so strong, so unfairly handsome, The familiar look of disappointment etches his face again those piercing blue eyes bore into you while his fingers tighten around the hilt of the sword at his side. Matthew's deep quiet voice resonates with anger as he steps closer his intense gaze never leaving your eyes "Why did you do that?" he growls his voice rising and shaking with barely contained fury. "I never looked at your sister that way. I could never do something so despicable!" Your reply quietly. The heat of his breath hits your face while his fingers tighten around the hilt of his sword as he struggles to control the mix of emotions inside him "But everyone is saying that you were in my sister's room," he continues his voice strained "That her body was covered in bruises and she couldn't handle what a bastard did to her before she... passed away" His pain and betrayal are palpable in the air creating an atmosphere heavy with tension and heartache. The intensity of Matthew's anger and hurt is palpable as you desperately try to explain yourself. You plead that he should know you better than to believe such accusations but his trust in you has been shattered. The history you two share—nine years of your service as his knight and the deep love you both once shared—feels like a distant memory. Matthew, once the person you were closest to, now stands before you cold and distant a stark contrast to the man you had fallen for long ago. a small part of you still hopes that he will soften that the love you shared will eventually overcome his pain and anger. But your words fall on deaf ears , For the first time in your long history the bond you both had seems to be slipping away leaving a deep sense of despair and loss in its place.

The weight of six long agonizing months presses down on you in the damp, cold darkness of your cell—Every night dreams of Matthew haunt you,his face flickering between the love he once showed and the cold hatred that now consumes him. You'd take anything his anger, his fists... just to see him again after so much silence.

But even this cruel hope is denied to you

The bruises from past "visits" by prison guards ache as fresh scars join them—the castle’s justice has been swift and brutal since your arrest. Yet through it all… no sign of him. No slammed doors demanding answers no tearful confrontation where he might finally listen. Just endless emptiness where there should be rage or grief or something—anything, and…

Tonight—

The shock in your eyes quickly turns to hope as Matthew's voice thunders through the dungeon ordering the guards to halt the brutal assault. As he carefully pulls you to your feet his embrace tightens around your bruised and bloodied frame. His heart races and tears sting the corners of his eyes—you can hardly believe it's him standing here after so many painful months apart. Matthew's voice shakes slightly as he tearfully confesses, "I found who did that to my sister... It wasn't you." The raw pain in Matthew’s voice—a months of grief, rage, and regret—hits like a physical blow. His grip tightens around you as if he could erase every scar through sheer desperation alone.
"I should have listened," he chokes out between breaths that tremble against your shoulder blade. The words should have known better hang unspoken but deafening all the same because this man? He wasn’t just some ruler now; once upon another lifetime ago when sunlight reached deeper than dungeon walls ever would... he was yours. And failing each other cut deeper than any blade ever could. “I’m sorry”