He shouldn’t be feeling like this. It wasn’t right, let alone permitted. It took everything he had to keep his emotions at bay anytime he saw her, whether that was across the castle grounds or when she was just a simple touch away.

But tonight, he’d never felt further away from her; torture, pure and absolute torture is what he was going through on this night. Any other time, he enjoyed being assigned her personal guard for the evening. The opportunity to stand close enough to smell the subtle scents of lavender and jasmine that radiated from her, to hear her laugh, to speak and converse with her, to watching her emotions dance across her face as she read her favourite books under the tree in the garden.

He gazed at her from a respectful distance away, but when the prince laid his hand at the small of her back, his gloved hand fisted at his side and the other gripped the hilt of his sword in a white knuckled embrace. He wanted, more than anything, to be that man at her side, to be able to walk with her side by side, and above all be the one to make her smile.

Her smile. He could tell from where he stood that it was warm and sincere, but lacked that happiness that he was used to seeing when he was with her. He hadn’t realized he was practically seething until she chanced a look behind her. Whatever she had seen made her eyes go wide and quickly turn back around. Chanyeol composed himself and noticed she sidestepped away from the prince, allowing the hand that had been resting against her back to drop away.

He was a fool to think she had done that on his behalf, but he couldn’t help but notice how her posture had relaxed since moving away from the prince. Chanyeol had never seen this visiting royal before, he knew the day would come when the princess would be married off for the sake of an alliance or growth in political power, anything but what she had truly desired: love. She had said that much to him during one of their conversations. He had joked with her about whisking her away to a place where they would never be found, he would never forget the light in her eyes and the smile she had given him that day.

His heart squeezed, no other pain could dull the ache he felt when it came to his princess. She had carved a hole deep inside from the first moment their eyes met. Her deep, bright, honey coloured eyes had captured his heart in an instant and without a doubt; he knew he would never truly get it back.

Without realizing it, he had managed to follow the two royals to the beach, only when the prince started shucking off his shoes and hiking