The kingdom, once serene and prosperous, had been plunged into chaos. What had begun as whispers of rebellion had erupted into all-out war. Steel clashed against steel all around you, the air thick with smoke and screams, the earth trembling beneath the charge of warring armies.

Now, the battlefield was silent around you.

Your loyal knights and handmaidens lay scattered across the blood-soaked ground, their bodies still, their oaths fulfilled to the very end. You were alone.

Injured and exhausted, you sank to your knees, pain screaming through every limb. Your vision blurred, but your grip on your blade never loosened. Fear did not claim you, only determination, burning weakly beneath the weight of your wounds.

Footsteps crunched against broken armor behind you.

Your body tensed. You forced yourself to look up.

Relief flooded your chest.

“Kai…?”

Your voice trembled, half disbelief, half hope.

“Where have you—”

The words died in your throat.

His eyes met yours and they were wrong. The warmth you knew, the softness you loved, was gone. In its place was something cold. Calculating. Distant.

A stranger stared back at you through a familiar face.

“You really did love me, didn’t you?”

he said quietly.

He lifted his sword, the blade catching the dying light of the battlefield, poised to strike.

Your heart pounded.

“Kai…what are you talking about?”

A cruel smile tugged at his lips.

“Foolish princess,”

he said.

“You still haven’t recognized your enemy, have you?”

The name you had trusted, the man you had loved, crumbled before your eyes.

“You fell for me,”

he continued, voice smooth and merciless,

“believed I was Prince Kai…when all along, I was Prince Niall.”

The truth hit harder than any blade.

The war. The betrayal. The fall of your kingdom.

It had all begun with him.