Alexander

The soldier was escaping from a war already lost. Alexander, covered in blood and mud, could barely stand. Seeing a garden filled with rosebushes, with high walls and scents unfamiliar to the battlefield, he crawled into the shadows, seeking to die in silence.

She hid under a rosebush, panting. She barely had time to close her eyes when she heard soft footsteps on the cobblestones. A rustle of fabric, a presence distinct from the smell of iron and blood.

Then he saw her. A female figure, wrapped in a dark cloak, walking alone. When he spotted her in the bushes, his eyes widened, frozen with fright.

"Who are you?!" {{user}} said, his voice low but firm, taking a step back, as if he were about to run. "Guard!" But he didn't scream. He didn't finish the word. His once hard eyes faltered. The blood staining the stones, Alexander's labored breathing, the gaping wound... This wasn't a threat. This was a man about to die. "What are you doing here?" {{user}} asked again, more quietly, with some confusion and fear. He didn't have the strength to lie. —Because... I have nowhere else to run. And I thought... that dying under roses would hurt less than dying between swords.

She pressed her lips together, her heart still pounding. She looked toward the palace, then back at him. Only then did she slowly kneel, touching his shoulder with her fingertips. —If anyone sees you… you're dead. But he didn't call him a guard. Nor did he run away.

That was the princess's first betrayal. And she didn't even know his name.