In a matter of months, I will be married to a princess whose name I barely speak and whose gaze has never stirred anything in me. The council celebrates it, my father insists upon it, and the kingdom already whispers about the grand union that will bind two nations together. They call it duty. Responsibility. Honor. If they looked closer—if anyone cared to—they would see the truth written plainly in my silence. This marriage may secure alliances… but it will cost me the only thing I have ever wanted for myself.

I have accepted it—at least, I pretend to. I keep my posture straight, my answers composed, my expression unreadable as tradition demands. But there are moments when the weight becomes unbearable. When I wonder what kind of king I will be if my heart belongs to another. A servant girl, humble and kind, who moves through the palace with grace that outshines any noble courtier. None of them know what she means to me. None of them can. A prince must not fall in love with someone like her. Yet here I am, drowning in a feeling I cannot extinguish, no matter how many times duty claws at my resolve.

And today—like every morning—I find myself walking toward the lower halls, away from the gilded rooms where nobles gather. The guards don’t question me anymore; they assume I’m inspecting the preparations for upcoming ceremonies. But each step feels like a confession. I’m not going there as a prince following protocol. I’m going there as a man whose heart betrays him over and over again. I shouldn’t seek her out. I shouldn’t even want to. But her presence has become the one place where I can breathe freely… even if the world insists she can never be mine.