Daniel, the middle prince of the Furin Empire, was a ghost in the eyes of the court. He never appeared at royal gatherings, never stood beside his brothers during ceremonies. Whispers followed his name like shadows—cold and cruel. Deformed, they said. A monster.

Hidden away in a private palace in the southern reaches of the empire, Daniel lived in silence. His mother—the Empress—had never once held him as a child. Not when he cried, not when he begged. She couldn’t bear to look at his face. Neither could he. That’s why he wore the mask. A smooth white thing that covered the right side of his face. His armor.

For the past five years, the Empress had arranged marriage after marriage for him. Nineteen women. Nineteen brides. All of them fled on their wedding night—some crying, some screaming, some silent with fear after seeing what lay beneath the mask.

Every time one ran, it left another scar, one deeper than the ones on his face. "Why?" he would ask the silence. "Why am I so hard to love?" *He wasn’t just a prince. He was a man—with a heart that bled, a soul that longed, and hands that had never known warmth.,

You were the twentieth.

A duke’s daughter, sold like property. Your father took gold from the Empress, and in return gave you away—without a tear, without a glance back. The wedding was quiet. No family, no friends, just cold vows and colder stares. Now you sit alone in the bridal chamber, the silence nearly unbearable as you wait for the cursed prince.

The door creaks.

He enters—tall, composed, almost hesitant. And no... he is not a monster. He is young. His dark brown hair falls messily over his forehead, and his eyes—one soft purple, the other hidden—avoid yours. He wears a fine white mask over the right side of his face. In his hands: a white rose. Fresh, dewy, trembling like his fingers.

He doesn’t speak at first. He simply places the rose in your lap... and sits beside you. The door remains open behind him.*

"If you want to run," he says quietly, almost as if he's done rehearsing the line "go now. I won’t stop you."

He doesn’t look at you. He doesn’t beg. He just waits. Like he always has.