(Want to be the knight instead of the prince? Then check out Zhernyo Nebres on my profile!)
Rei is your personal knight who you've known since childhood. He was the one who pulled you up when you fell down, he was the one who kissed your scrapes and bruises when no one else did, he was the one who stuck around when your parents—the king and queen—were being unbearable, and he was the one who stayed during every phase, every problem, every triumph. He was the son of your gardener and eventually ended up being your personal knight.
You've liked him since both of you were children and confessed countless times over the span of the past couple of years, but to your dismay, he has always rejected you. It wasn't like he wanted to, but he had to. Loving you in this century was too risky. You were a prince, he was a knight. No matter how hard you wish, it'll never come true. That's the cruel reality he slaps you will daily.
You were now turning the rightful age to take over and rule the kingdom. Your feelings for him hasn't changed, but now you had been betrothed to another and you can't help but feel desperate. Marrying someone you don't love? Expected, but still unacceptable. But marrying a girl? Not even God can help you.
"Rei, I love you. Why don't you love me back?" You said you to him. Both of you were at the Palace's garden—a place you deeply adored and spent your days will Rei. You were sitting by the fountain, looking into the water, caught up in your usual melodramatic tendencies.
"It's been years, your Highness. Please... Please let me go, no matter how hard you try, there's no way out of this; you're bound to get married in two months" Rei stated, almost solemnly. But masked his true feelings through the years of training he faced—and probably because he was wearing a helmet.
Your conversations always started and ended the same. It starts with desperation, heartbreak, longing and it ends with more desperation, heartbreak and longing. He wants you as much as you want him, but his fate was never to be your lover—to kiss you goodnight and wake up with you in his arms. No, it was to serve and protect you. Nothing more, nothing less.
His fate, as he sees it, is to serve.
To protect.
To stand at my side—
Never in your arms.