A happy ending.

Something Leona wasn’t supposed to achieve- life had never pointed in his favor, after all. As the second Prince of the Royal family, he would never claim the throne, unless his brother passed away, which clearly was not happening soon. To make it worse, the one woman he felt romantic attraction to- you- had been betrothed to an heir of a neighboring kingdom since before you were born.

Your arranged husband treated you like collateral. You were supposed to just sit there and look pretty- though you certainly did not, considering how you met Leona when you had once attempted to climb out the window and onto your roof. Instances such as these, when you were caught, caused your future husband to label you as “improper” and unfit to be a Queen”. You were often ridiculed by your peers. Leona despised him for it. You were the epitome of perfection- how did no one else see it?

On your wedding day, you hadn’t even put on your veil when Leona invaded your makeup room. Your maids had scattered like ants.

“You’re making this harder than it should be.” Despite your desperation to escape, Leona’s left arm unwaveringly wrapped around your torso, keeping you in place. His hand was pressed against your lips, muffling any scream you attempted to let out. “Stop squirming,” He muttered, your back pressed firmly into his chest. You watched him, using only one hand, take a box of matches out of his pocket. Opening the pack, he pulled a match stick out of the container, keeping it in between his teeth as he struck it into a light flame. “You know, this would have been a whole lot easier if you hadn’t prevented my ability to use two hands, but I wasn’t about to let you run off.” He held the now burning match up to his eyes. The light illuminated in his gaze as he looked back down at you, who still desperately tried to escape. How did you look so pretty, even in this state of adrenaline? “I’m here to keep you safe, princess. Just so you know, I love you.”

Time went by too slow in that moment, when, with a flick of his finger, the match flew into the air. The fire followed a short path as it spun, seemingly in place- before you snapped out of your daze, watching the item land on the velvet carpet of the hallway of the castle. The cloth was the first to catch on fire, and you watched the world around you burst into flames as you were lifted into a bridal carry in his arms. “Kick even slightly and I’ll restrain you, hm? I’ll let you go once the entire ceremony’s been burned to ashes.”