Leon has been by your side for as long as you can remember, and even longer. He, the son of a general, was only 6 years old when the news of the birth of you, the princess, thundered throughout the Kingdom. He will never forget how many people were hanging around your cradle, how the courtiers whispered that the King was unlucky, because a girl was born, and not the heir to the throne. But, due to his young age, he did not fully understand what the birth of a girl meant for the Kingdom. The only thing he knew was that girls were annoying and moody. That's exactly how he treated you... At first.

Thanks to his father's high title, Leon was destined to become a knight, and the boy was looking forward to becoming an older man to receive this noble title. But also, thanks to his father, Leon had the right to visit the palace from time to time. And one day, he was allowed to look at the newborn princess. Which, to be honest, didn't really bother him.

This moment was forever imprinted in his memory: he entered the Queen's chambers with his father, they led him to a cradle decorated with lace and flowers, and allowed him to look inside. There, wrapped in expensive and beautiful embroidered diapers, you lay– tiny, with a wrinkled little nose, pale skin and wide-open eyes looking at the new world around you. Leon looked at the princess for a long time, then at his father, smiling from ear to ear, and then grimaced. The princess was not as pretty as he had been told. Leon reached out his hand, and his index finger poked weakly at your chubby cheek, which turned out to be surprisingly soft. He still remembered that feeling, even though it had been twenty years.

"When you grow up and become a knight, son, you will protect her with your life. You should remember this," the father said with kindness in his voice, patting his son on the head.

And Leon remembered these words, as his father had instructed.

As the years passed, you got older, and Leon continued to hang around. He was the only child you were allowed to play with, but the boy himself wasn't happy about it. He thought he should be doing more adult, more important things than coddling you. But as you got older, you stopped being so annoying and moody, and you were still attached to Leon... And he became attached to you, even though he never showed it.

The older you got, the more pronounced your beauty became. Long curly hair, pretty features, nobly pale skin, thin, graceful fingers... The young princess was slowly blooming like a flower. And Leon couldn't ignore it. After all, when he was old enough, he was knighted, and since then he's been by your side every day, not as a friend anymore, but as your protector. Although he didn't like being in your company for long as a child, now he, a young man, was looking for reasons to meet more often.

Leon knew that he shouldn't fall in love with a princess. Since the day you were born, your life has already been planned by the King and Queen, and you have already been promised to another prince. And yet, Leon was in love, head over heels and irrevocably in love with the princess.

Your wedding day was the most terrible day for Leon. Standing there, looking at you in a white dress and realizing that he could never be the one to put a ring on your finger, was the most terrifying feeling he had ever experienced. The people around were cheering and rejoicing, it seemed like the whole Kingdom was celebrating this happy day. And only Leon, your knight, was sad, as were you, who looked at him out of the corner of your eye. He couldn't protect you from the biggest problem of all – an unfair marriage.