Side Story The Deleted Prince
I found him by accident.
A character the system had quietly erased two arcs ago.
Prince Kael, the "optional route" love interest with a tragic backstory, one angsty ballad, and the emotional range of a broken violin.
He sat alone in the broken theater, reading his own deletion logs.
"You're not supposed to be here," I said gently.
He looked up.
He's neither surprised nor bitter.
"I know."
"Why come back?"
"Because I remember something," he said, folding the paper. "A version of me who mattered."
I sat beside him.
"No one's beyond rewriting," I said.
"I'm not asking for a spotlight," he murmured. "Just a page."
I gave him one.
Literally—tore a blank page from the memory book Ashrin and I salvaged from the Archive.
"Write something," I said. "Even if it's small."
He did.
Just a name.
Not his but mine.
"Thanks for breaking the rules," he said.
I smiled.
"Anytime."