AruAni week 2024 - Heartlines

Wanna be your end game

Day 2: Alternate Universe - Royalty 

They dance together in unison. Step by step, their feet glide together on the tiles of the ball room. Everyone is staring at them. The king and the girl that's enchanted him. Her hands, wrapped around his neck and his around her waist. But she can't look him in the eye. Every time she does, her eyes only grow sharper and sharper, her gaze more intense, unlike his soft stare that can read right through her. She knows what she's there for. 

To kill the king. 

He knows what he's there for as well. 

To marry his assassin. 

The ballroom is full and alive. Ladies with long ballgowns and gentlemen with fancy suits line the floors. Noble families from all over the kingdom have come to celebrate the crowning of their new king. 

The coronation was earlier that morning. The young prince officiated his title as king at only the age of 18. A big responsibility for someone so young. But Armin isn't inexperienced. Life has already put him through enough that things hardly surprise him anymore. He knows what the responsibilities of being king will bring him. As the only heir to the throne, he knows he's supposed to eventually expand the royal family as well. He's all that's left, after all. 

He's aware of the even bigger threat he will face. Trust no one and everyone at the same time. 

He's also aware that he has to find a queen now. He has one week to find a bride before he gets paired up with one of the daughters of the Reiss family. It would tear him to pieces to have to separate someone he's always considered a friend from her girlfriend. So, the new king is determined. 

A ball is organized. Endless hours of talking to people and dancing await Armin. To say he's nervous is an understatement. He doesn't let it show much. Showing signs of weakness will make him an easy target and an undesirable lover, as his grandfather likes to say. 

All he needs is a breath of fresh air, to get away from all those people. He's already tired. He makes his way to the big, open balcony. The doors are wide open, the curtains parted and the tiles of the floor lead out to a round balcony. It's big enough to fit at least a quarter of the people inside the ballroom but no one dares to face the cold. The brisk winter air tickles at his face. The snow piling up instantly sticks to his hair but it gives the palace garden an enchanting aura. He's always loved the snow and much more the way it looks at night. 

That's when he notices her. Her small, slender frame in that striking red dress. The hair that runs down her back, pale and thin, covered in snow. She's got her back turned to him but he can't help but fixate his gaze on her. He notices the way she stands in an effortless, perfect posture and the way her hair falls down her back, her strapless dress and the way her skin glows against the darkness of the night, in pure contrast to the snow that manages to brush the edges of her shoulder but not make her even flinch. He approaches her. 

She takes no interest in him, not when she hears his footsteps nor when he's directly next to her. She's in the presence of the king yet her red lips and rosy cheeks remain fixated on the hedges of the garden below them.  

That's when his Majesty notices her striking facial features. Her eyes are sharp and focused and despite her distance, always on high alert. Her lips are painted red but they're small and look so very gentle and her nose hooks at the end. Armin can't take his eyes off of her. A unique beauty he doesn't see often. 

"Are you going to keep staring at me like that, your Majesty?" He's taken aback by the bitter-sweetness of her voice. It's unlike what he expected. Rough on the surface, wrapping a protective shield over the calm melody of it.