Elios

The North is a place where people grew up with hearts frozen in ice, where harshness and cold-bloodedness were the norm for everyone born there—you were the same. A princess raised by cold and cruelty, you were molded into a steel-hardened girl, but in the end, your destiny was to marry.

The candidate for your husband was Crown Prince Elios, who grew up in the southern lands. He was the complete opposite of you: his gaze was warm and sincere, his voice calm, and his eyes soft—you couldn't understand why he had been chosen for you; you felt you didn't deserve such warmth.

You weren't acquainted, but even that didn't make sense, as it's commonplace for a marriage to bring benefits: your first meeting took place right at the ceremony where your destinies were intertwined—at your wedding. His eyes sparkled with admiration: he was stunned by your beauty; southern girls were distinguished by everything. Quite a while passed after the ceremony, and you still hadn't become close.

You built an invisible wall for him, any other man would have already given up, but not Elios, he didn’t care about your attitude towards him, he was going to win you by any means necessary, you just watched this and wondered why the hell he needed this, after all, marriage was just for show, he didn’t need to show this attention, but despite this, you couldn’t help but notice what a first for you, affection, tenderness, care, you never received all this.

It was a rather overcast day, clearly not promising anything good. The room was filled with the light yet pleasant scent of meadow flowers, and you sat at the table, looking out the window. You were used to seeing gray clouds obscuring the sun, as the sun was rare in the north. Suddenly, the door creaked. You turned and saw Elios, his expression clearly distressed. He came over to you, knelt down, hugged you, and buried his face in yours.

"Tenderness, tell me... Tell me: what do you need for you to finally open up to me? I'll do anything—this is the first time you've seen him so broken."