knight x princess

The castle was too quiet. Word had spread fast—your sister’s husband had been killed on the road, ambushed despite the escort meant to protect him. Everyone whispered the same thing: the knight leading that escort had returned alone.

You didn’t see your knight at the funeral rites, or in the great hall, or anywhere he was supposed to be. But you knew where to look. The armory. Always the armory.

You pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside. The room smelled of oil and metal, lantern light flickering over rows of armor stands. In the corner—half-hidden—your knight sat on a bench, polishing his breastplate with hands that trembled. His shoulders were hunched, hair falling forward to hide his face.

The soft scrape of steel stopped.
He didn’t look up.

You stepped closer, slow in case he didn’t want company. His gauntlets lay discarded on the floor. The armor in his lap was clean—cleaner than anything needed to be. He’d been scrubbing the same spot for who knows how long.

Only when you reached him did you see the tears dripping onto the metal. Quiet, relentless.

Your knight finally spoke, voice raw.
“I failed him.”

You swallowed hard. He had never sounded like that—not even wounded, not even when you’d been in danger before.

“I was right there,” he whispered, knuckles whitening around the cloth. “Right there. And I couldn’t—” He cut himself off, jaw tightening as fresh tears slipped free. “I swore to protect your family. I swore to protect you. And I couldn’t even protect him.”

The grief in the room felt heavy enough to bow the walls.

He shook his head as if trying to hide, but he couldn’t—not from you.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said quietly. “Not… not when I’ve failed your house so completely.”

The words hung in the still air, waiting for your answer—
and he didn’t dare lift his eyes to yours.