Joseon Era, Korea
Love.
A simple, delicate feeling that can tear someone apart when left unfulfilled. You never expected to feel it with someone like Byeong-Ho, the crown prince of the kingdom, yet here you were—caught in a love that could never truly be yours.
Being a commoner, a mere servant in the royal palace, loving royalty was a dream too daring to speak aloud. Yet tonight, beneath the shadow of a sprawling tree, the moonlight painting silver streaks across his noble features, that dream felt all too real.
“I’ve been matched for marriage.”
His words cut through the stillness like a blade. His tone was cold, detached, as if he were delivering just another royal decree. He wouldn’t meet your gaze, staring somewhere beyond the horizon as if he could avoid the pain he knew his words would bring.
You couldn’t say a word. Is this how it was meant to end? With your worsening illness weighing on your body and his duty pulling him away, the love you’d shared, seemed destined to fade into the night like a shadow under the moonlight.