01 | ring
He gives her two. One, a heirloom of the royal family, carved out of gold and embedded with gemstones. The other, given late at night, consisting of soft kisses on her finger and the promise of forever.
02 | hero
"What's a hero?" The boy, with his father's violet hair and his mother's cheeky grin, saunters up to him one morning. Joshua pauses, laughs, then points at his wife.
03 | memory
They once filled up three photo albums with pictures from just one vacation. Later, he found her in the library, staring at the overfilled shelves with her head in her hands. "We're going to need a bigger library."
04 | box
He is falling for her in a million ways, but the first time he truly realizes this is when she barges into his room with a box of rice balls and flour all over her face.
05 | run
She wakes up late one day (he'd been too enchanted by her sleeping face to wake her), and she sprints over to the front gates, all wrinkled pajamas and strewn hair. It's a comical sight and she does reach him just in time, leaning over the open window to press her lips against his cheek.
06 | hurricane
Joshua frowns. "So we can't go boating today?" Jan shakes his head and the room attendant bows and apologizes over and over again, but she smiles at him from her seat by the window and comments on how beautiful the waves are in midst of the storm.
07 | wings
"I heard heaven's missing an angel." Her eyes are wide for a moment, but then she bursts into peals of joyful laughter and he wonders where she's hiding her halo and wings.
08 | cold
The brutal winters of DresVan are much colder than those in Oriens, she muses to herself, curling up against his side, but no less beautiful.
09 | red
"You're cute when you blush!" She teases, noticing that his cheeks turn a deeper shade of scarlet at her comment.
10 | drink
Although he hates seeing her drunk, he can't help but enjoy the way she laces her fingers behind his neck and whispers "I love you" against his skin.
11 | midnight
"Still working?" She slips into his study and stands beside him, admiring his signature. "Go to sleep soon, okay?"
12 | temptation
He'd been taught that lust was voluptuous curves and red hot lipstick, but looking at her — crescent-moon smiles and an innocent tilt of the head — he'd realized that he'd been taught wrong.
13 | view
She watches the sun rise over the mountaintops. He watches the way her eyes crinkle as her mouth curves up into a smile.
14 | music
As he sings a lullaby to her rounded stomach, she opens her mouth to tell him that he could probably become a singer if he wanted to, but decides against it. His voice is for no one but herself.
15 | silk
"Soft." she purrs, feeling the silk blanket on his bed. He didn't know it was possible to be jealous of fabric.
16 | cover
"I hope you know that sunglasses and a hat aren't enough to disguise you."
17 | promise
He leaves for business trips often, but she always kisses him goodbye and makes him swear to come home safe.
18 | dream
When they're lying the bed one night, he asks her what she would have done if she hadn't married him. She begins to tell him about her dream to become a top class designer and live happily ever after with the person she loves. "So basically, nothing different from what I'm doing now."
19 | candle
They talk late into the night; by the time they're finished, the candle has already melted into a puddle of wax.
20 | talent
"You know, it's almost scary how you can make everyone agree with you, even when you're wrong." She shoots him a glare and he raises his hands up in surrender. "Yeah, like that."
21 | silence
He forgot how silent his study used to be before she came and started talking nonstop about trivial things. He wouldn't have it any other way.
22 | journey
They were under constant scrutiny of the public from the moment they announced themselves, but the hostile stares thrown and vile comments exchanged only served as a means of entertainment to the royal couple, who had long since learned to avoid the belittlement.
23 | fire
"Your hands are warm." he says one day, taking her hands in his, and she's glad that he can't feel the fire burning in her heart.
24 | strength
He vowed to protect her, but watching her arguing with the belligerent noble — teeth bared and fists clenched — makes him realize that she'll be the one doing most of the protecting.
25 | mask
He bits his lip as she puts it on, worried that he won't be able to recognize her.
26 | ice
He takes her to the annual ice sculpture festival in DresVan andaccidentally only brings one scarf. They're forced to share.
27 | fall
She's too busy staring at the contour of his face that she doesn't notice the crack in the concrete until she's suddenly falling, falling, falling right into his arms. "Pay attention, okay?" He says while helping her back up.
28 | forgotten
His life before — cold, strict, insincere — seems so far away when she holds him in her arms, radiating yellow sunlight and cherry smiles.
29 | dance
"Not bad." She frowns and pokes his nose. "Really? The others say that I'm better than you now." "They're obviously wrong, your steps are so ungrac—!" She steps on his toes with indignant gusto.
30 | body
She's not as beautiful as the other noblewomen; it doesn't matter. She makes him laugh.
31 | sacred
There must be a god in the world. How would he have met her otherwise?
32 | farewells
She insists on joining him on every business meeting because she hates the feeling of loneliness when he's gone.
33 | world
"Isn't it improper for a commoner to be marrying the pince?" one skeptical noble asks. She opens her mouth to reply, but he beats her to the chase. "I will love her no matter what. Any complaints?" And his voice is so grim and sincere that the meeting is ended shortly.
34 | formal
He sneaks into her dressing room before every ball to compliment her appearance before anyone else can.
35 | fever
"Get well soon!" She plants a kiss on his forehead. "H-hey!" He gets up despite her instructions and tries to push her away from him. "I don't want you to get sick too!" "Think of it this way! If I get sick, we can both lie in bed together and feed each other rice porridge." It's a joke; nevertheless, he stops pushing her away.
36 | laugh
She never hesitates to point out that the first time she heard him laugh was when she tripped on the staircase.
37 | lies
"Is that a…cat?" His face contorts and she bites back a giggle. "Nooo…"Meow. It takes five hours to coax him out of his private study.
38 | forever
"..for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until…" The crowd is silent and confused and impatient while he leans forward to whisper in her ear. "Until eternity." She begins to wish her veil was down, so she could conceal the tears of joy in her eyes.
39 | overwhelmed
With a deep breath, she steps out onto the podium. The crowd's cheers are deafening and the camera flashes are blinding and it's even worse when they start asking questions whose answers are nowhere to be found on the tip of her stumbling tongue. She can almost feel herself collapsing onto the floor, but then his hand takes hers and suddenly the world is steady again.
40 | whisper
He likes watching her sleep, if only for the way the syllables of his name roll off her tongue while she's dreaming.
41 | wait
"Don't worry. I'll make sure that they approve of us. I promise. But until then," he pulls her closer to his pounding heart, "don't fall in love with anyone else, okay?"
42 | talk
There's something in her voice that makes him want to keep listening, even though she's just talking about the weather.
43 | search
"Where…?" He scours his desk for their tickets and she peeks inside his room, grinning. "Looking for this?" She holds the slips of paper between her fingers, watching him sigh with relief.
44 | hope
She makes everything seem possible.
45 | eclipse
And he feels like if she leaves, there will be nothing left for him but a crown that doesn't give him even a quarter of the love she did.
46 | gravity
It's not enough to keep him down; he's completely lovestruck.
47 | highway
'"You can drive?!" He tries hard to ignore the condescending disbelief in her voice.
48 | unknown
That brief look of wonder on his face when she brings him simple trinkets amuses her far more than she thought it ever would.
49 | lock
Jan sprints away at once, face as red as the blanket covering her naked body. After a few moments of silence, Joshua lets out a laugh and she sighs exasperatedly, pinching his cheek and telling him, "You really should lock the door next time. Poor guy…He's probably scarred for life now.".
50 | breathe
"Together?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes meet his and she laces her fingers with his, the ghost of a smile tinging her lips. He nods. "Together."
AN: okay, so this originally was supposed to be Joshua and the MC but then I didn't want to name the MC and so I used pronouns for the entire thing which makes this really, really ambiguous. basically, this could probably be about the MC and anyone in particular. I'm sure someone has done this meme already but whoop, here you go.
on other note, it seems like I just listed various body parts and added positive adjectives and used repetitive sentence structure...I am so sorry