Side Story His Highnesss Heartfelt Hallucinations
Prince Leorion Athelvane adjusted his cravat with a practiced flourish and stared dramatically into his hand mirror.
The mirror, enchanted for daily affirmations, whispered,
"You are emotionally complex and devastatingly attractive."
He sighed. "Indeed. And tragically misunderstood."
The reflection sparkled.
Outside, the royal carriage soared through clouds of cherry blossoms as if fate itself had scripted his entrance.
And yet...
She had not swooned.
Lady Verenia Eltis, the villainess of his fated tale, the tempest of his tortured youth, had not gasped when he arrived.
She had not clutched her chest, or whispered, "Leorion... after all these years..."
No, she had mocked him.
With sarcasm.
How dare she be so... enticingly confusing.
He gripped the edge of the velvet seat, his knuckles heroically pale.
"She must be pretending. A wall she built to protect her broken heart... caused by me."
It was the only explanation.
The tragic breakup event—clearly it had already occurred, off-screen.
Why else would his soul ache every time she tossed a tea cup with disdain?
Their history was painted across his heart in shades of rose and regret.
Here's a flashback from his memory (which didn't happen from Verenia / Kira's POV).
A candlelit ballroom.
Verenia in a backless gown, glaring at him over a goblet of forbidden elixir.
"I hate you," she whispers, tears glinting like cursed diamonds.
"You were never meant to love a prince," he replies, voice breaking on the word love.
Then—thunder. Lightning. A rose petal explodes.
Back in the present, Leorion stared wistfully out the carriage window.
"She remembers none of it," he murmured.
"A cruel twist of fate. A memory curse? A forbidden potion? No matter... I shall remind her."
He snapped his fingers.
"Servants!"
A butler appeared instantly.
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Prepare the Love Redemption Plan."
The butler sighed. "Again, sire?"
"Version 4.2. With more moonlit violins."
Later that day.
Leorion leapt from the roof of the alchemy hall—cape billowing, eyes glistening—and landed in front of Verenia with the force of a scripted romantic climax.
"I have come," he announced, "to rewrite the ending of our doomed tale!"
She looked up from a sandwich. "Are you stalking me?"
He froze.
That was not in the script.
"I am haunted by you," he said instead, flicking his hair.
"Your absence echoes louder than your words."
"I was literally just in potions class."
"You were glowing. Probably from longing."
"I think it was just smoke."
A pigeon landed on his shoulder.
He dramatically shooed it away, pretending it was a tragic omen.
"I will make you love me again," he declared.
"Or at the very least, remember our nonexistent history."
"Please don't."
Another sparkle burst behind him.
A passing student clapped.
As Verenia walked away, unfazed, Leorion smiled faintly.
"She denies her heart," he whispered. "But deep inside... the sparks remain."
Behind him, his horse walked into a hedge.