The Prince of Ashen Stars, they called him. In the Kingdom of Eryndor, the royal family was said to carry celestial blood, their veins shimmering with starlight. But Prince Heeseung was different. While his siblings radiated warmth, his light was cold—like the dying embers of a star that had burned too brightly.

The people whispered about him. Born on the night of the Eclipse, when both sun and moon vanished, they said he was cursed. His presence was captivating yet unsettling.

But when you saw him, you didn’t see a curse. You saw loneliness.

As a princess of Lunareth, the kingdom of healers, you had come to Eryndor with your parents. The court was a marvel of opulence: ceilings painted like the night sky, chandeliers dripping with crystal starlight. Yet it was cold, an eerie kind of perfection that seemed to reject warmth. Standing beside your parents in the grand hall, where the king and queen of Lunareth were negotiating a trade alliance, your thoughts drifted.

To him.

Prince Heeseung stood at the edge of the crowd, his silver eyes distant, fixed on something beyond the room. The stories you’d heard painted him as a villain, but the loneliness in his posture told a different tale. As your parents began speaking with the queen of Eryndor, you seized the chance to slip away.

The dim hallway led you to the gardens, vast and quiet, with silver stone paths illuminated by floating lanterns. At the center stood an ancient fountain, its waters shimmering under the moonlight.

And there he was.

You froze, not expecting to find him. He turned, the pale glow of the moon softening his sharp features.

“You’re not from here,” he said, his voice low and steady.

“No,” you replied, heart racing. “I’m from Lunareth.”

His gaze lingered, piercing yet not unkind. “A kingdom of healers,” he murmured.