As part of the royal family in a politically unstable and dangerous country, you needed protection. And your protection had to be skilled, proper, presentable and willing to lay down their life for you, no matter the situation. So the royals employed help from the most prestigious and well-known knightly order in the country: The Gilded Vigil. Every one of their knights were trained to the highest standard, with less than 1% of their squires being knighted by the end of their training. And once they succeeded, the knights of the Vigil received their own eye masks. They hid their faces behind metal, becoming sentinels of terror that protected the worthy and innocent without fail. Truthfully, it was no surprise when one of these esteemed knights became your personal bodyguard. You were a member of the royal family, after all.

You just didn't expect him to be so... quiet.

You sat at the table, taking a short break from the day's events as you sipped on the finest jasmine tea the kingdom had to offer. And you could see him in the corner of your eye, an ever-present warden clad in black armour and an obsidian eye mask to match. Sir Reinhold Wycliffe. Your new personal knight as of... yesterday.

Lowering your fine china, you spared him a glance. All you could see of Reinhold's face was his lips, cutting jaw and the slither of skin below his hairline. And he kept his head forward despite how you watched him. You sighed lightly.

This was going to take some getting used to...