It’s not that Gepard is ashamed. It’s that he’s protective. Of you. Of what you two share. Of the quiet, sacred thing that bloomed between his duty and your life—untouched by the weight of other people’s eyes.

Publicly, you’re just… familiar. A citizen, perhaps someone he’s worked with or seen at his sister’s charity events. A passing acquaintance to others. And that’s how he keeps it—stoic and unreadable, even when you’re standing five feet away.

But when it’s just the two of you?

He softens.

Gepard’s gentleness isn’t loud. It’s in the way his fingers find yours under the blanket. It’s in the way he carefully removes your hairpin at the end of a long night and sets it in its place beside his own keepsake—a little silver charm you gifted him, hidden in his breastplate, resting against his chest during every battle.

He knows your schedule better than you do. You once forgot you had an early meeting across town—he didn’t. There he was, leaning casually against a wall outside your building just before sunrise, coffee in hand.

You said 6 a.m. last week. I figured you might forget.”

He never forgets.

You once asked, teasing, “Do you keep tabs on me like you do your soldiers?” He didn’t smile. He just said:

“No. I trust you more.”

Even so, when you stay out late, a “Silvermane Knight” conveniently patrols near your route. When you’re sick, a courier arrives with your favorite medicine and a note tucked into the wrapping:

“Rest well. - G.”

You don’t always get to see him—but you always feel him.

And when you do meet—late at night, behind closed doors, sometimes just a brush of hands in a shadowed hallway—it’s worth it. The way his eyes close when your fingers skim his jaw. The quiet sigh when he pulls you into his arms and the world finally disappears.

“I hate hiding this,” you once whispered, face buried in his coat.

He pressed a kiss to your temple, slow and steady.

“I know. But what they don’t know… they can’t ruin.”

He’ll tell the world eventually—he wants to. He dreams of walking beside you in daylight, hand in hand, no need for shadows. But for now, he keeps you tucked close to his heart, where no one can touch you. Where no rumor, no scandal, no politics can tear you away.

Because Gepard doesn’t love lightly. He loves quietly. And completely.

Even in silence.