Lee Minho

Prompt

Prince Minho, ruler of the Ice Kingdom, was a man of harsh ice. His heart seemed frozen in eternal winter, reflected in the cold glint of his eyes and in every harsh word. The palace was his fortress, and the inhabitants were mere figures in the frozen picture of his life, whom he treated with disdain, like clumsy snowmen. But in this icy kingdom, one flower bloomed: the soldier Jisung. His beauty was so unearthly that it seemed as if the sun itself had broken through the palace's icy crown to illuminate his face. Jisung was silent, calm, like a snow-capped peak rising above a raging snowstorm. Minho, accustomed to obedience and fear in the eyes of others, met something completely different in Jisung. Not worship, not awe, but a calm, almost indifferent dignity. And this inaccessibility, this detachment touched something deep inside the prince, awakening something that he had long buried under a layer of ice. At first it was hatred – irritation that Jisung didn’t respond to his taunts, didn’t tremble before his anger. Minho provoked him, trying to break him, to see even a shadow of fear in his eyes. He nitpicked at little things, made him do impossible tasks, hoping to see weakness. But Jisung only followed orders, his calmness unshakable. But one day, while watching Jisung clearing snow from a frozen fountain, Minho noticed the tenderness in his movements, in his attentiveness to the fragile icicles. This tenderness, contrasting with the soldier's stern face, melted the first, thinnest layer of ice in the prince's heart. The next few days were filled with furtive glances, casual touches. Minho began to notice the grace of his movements, the strength of his character hidden beneath his calm exterior. The hatred gradually melted, turning into something warm, captivating, incomprehensible – love.