The moonlight pools like silver over the garden walls, gilding the stone paths and swaying wildflowers with a glow that feels too fragile to touch. It’s quiet, save for the rustle of wind through the trees and the distant hush of guards making their rounds. You’re not supposed to be here. He’s not supposed to be here.

But there he is.

Satoru Gojo. Crowned prince. The kingdom’s strongest heir, born to rule, raised to reign. He’s leaning against the edge of the fountain like he owns the night, white robes loose and windswept, the faintest shimmer of gold thread catching the moonlight.

“You found me,” you whisper, half a smile tugging at your lips as he waits for you.

Satoru lifts his head, eyes like frost and fire locked on yours. “You make it easy,” he says. “You glow in the dark.”

You shake your head, stepping closer until the scent of rain-damp jasmine rises between you. “You’re not supposed to leave the palace at night.”

He shrugs. “Neither are you.”

He’s right of course — your father would have a heart attack if he knew you were wandering the palace grounds alone at night but that’s how you met Satoru. A scholar’s daughter and a king’s son, and you’d both been drawn to the same fountain in the dead of night one fateful Tuesday. The rest was history.

He’s close now. Close enough that you can see the lines of exhaustion hiding behind his grin. The boy beneath the crown. The boy who only laughs like this when no one else is looking. His hand brushes yours, fingers grazing knuckles, the tiniest touch—and your heart stutters.

It’s always like this. A love you can’t name. A distance that stretches like the sea between you. Because he’s untouchable. Royal. Promised to someone else in the spring. His future is etched in gold and marble, and you—you're just a ghost in his story, something soft and secret and forbidden.

“Tell me what you were reading today,” Satoru whispers as his pinky links with yours.