Juvia was just standing there, letting the maids fix her delicate and beautiful dress. Her soft hands were slightly separated from her body in order to make the job easier for the ladies helping her. Her blue light hair was smoothly runing through her shoulders finishing at her waist into soft waves. He directed his sight to her pale and pinkish cheekbones. He was mesmerized by how beautiful Juvia looked.

She gently moved behind her ear a piece of hair and opened her deep blue eyes when noticed someone staring at her. Quickly, Gray looked away not giving her the time to see him staring at her. One of the maids called her attention -You are all done, Ma'am- they moved away from her revealing her stunning and delicate light-blue dress. Gray looked at her while hiding the fact that he had been staring at her. -You may take her now, Knight Gray-

He made a small reverence and allowed Juvia to walk first. He smelled her sweet/fruity perfume when she passed next to him. He hadn't gotten a whiff of it in a long time.

Not a word was said between the two once they left her bedroom. Their footsteps were the only sound echoing through the hallways. He could see her thin figure from behind. The dress was barely some centimeters from the floor and her shoulders were visible.

-Juvia-

-...- she didn't answer.

-...- he remained silent for a few seconds and with a calm expression -It's been a long time you've used that perfume- she stared at him slightly over her shoulder and then again to the front.

-Are you going to ignore me forever?-

-Yes-

-...You just talked to me- she suddenly stopped and cover her mouth embarrassed. Gray saw she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself and just kept on walking. Somehow, this hurted a little.

He couldn't blame her. He has caused her a lot of pain in the past, and to be honest, he deserved being treated like that. "What happened?" you may be asking. Well... it's a long story.

Gray and Juvia met when they were kids.

Juvia's father was the king of the Empire and Gray's dad Silver was his knight. Silver has been the most loyal and best friend of the king. He would protect him no matter what.

One day Silver's son, Gray, was born. Silver knew his baby boy would grow and become a strong knight like him, and he hoped he would become a good friend of the soon to be born princess.

Unexpectedly, the queen died while giving birth to her daughter due to an infection, so Juvia would have to become the next queen as soon as she turned out twenty. Juvia's dad was broken. He loved his wife, his queen. She was everything to him. So he promised to take care of his daughter and protect her of any possible harm no matter what, since she was the only memory left of her beloved wife.

Once Gray turned six years old, the King assigned him as Juvia's personal knight. Silver felt proud. The little Gray started his training immediately and he swore he would protect the princess until his death.

But one day, a soldier from an enemy kingdom infiltrated in the palace and tried to capture the then three years old Juvia. He managed to kill a lot of soldiers until getting to the princess room and taking her. Furious, the king found the enemy and killed him.

The King lost his trust in Silver, so he decided Silver would not longer be his Knight. Silver couldn't tolerate the embarrassment, so he ended up commiting suicide by drinking poison.

Gray was devastated. He had failed to protect the princess and due to this, his dad had died. Gray swore he would die for Juvia if needed, and he wouldn't commit the same mistake as his dad had.

He was always next to her. He saw her grow. Gray was three years older than her, so he felt the need of becoming a big brother figure. There were no other kids inside the palace, so they became best friends while growing up.

At one point, Juvia fell in love with Gray, and she told him, but he refused her feelings since he was his knight and his job was to protect her, not to be her lover. Juvia's heart was broken, but she understood his point and accepted to keep things professional between them.

After that, Gray had a lot of girlfriends, but always ended up breaking up with them. He realized he didn't love them, so he would ended up finishing the relationship. He had never fell in love with them.

Juvia would see this and feel sad whenever he had a new girlfriend, but pretended everything was fine, until one day her feelings faded away.

But what really made Juvia change her mind on Gray was during the Empire's festival. She would never forget that.

During the Empire's festival, Juvia went out of the palace in order to show love towards the people and bring them joy with flowers and fruit as a gift.

As the future queen, she wanted to show she would be a kind and caring queen. People really liked her. Juvia got closer to a kid in order to greet him, but the kid turned out to take her ring and attempted to run out, but he was stopped by Gray.

The King decided that Juvia wouldn't be allowed to go out of the palace again since it was too dangerous. He didn't want to lose someone else again. Juvia fought with his dad but what she wasn't expecting was Gray's support for the king's decision.

She felt as if her freedom was taken away from her. And she wouldn't forgive him for that. She didn't mind what her father had to say, but Gray agreeing with him broke her heart. She felt betrayed.

Gray knew he had hurted her, but there was no other option. Since then, Juvia was not the same happy, sweet, lovely girl she used to be, and it was all his fault.

Back to the present, Gray opened the door for her and she entered while he waited outside.

-You look beautiful, Juvia- the king complimented her. She didn't reply. She fixed her gaze on to the ground.

The king sighed.

Gray could hear everything from outside.

-Listen Juvia... I know you hate me for what I did to you, but you need to know it was for your own good-

-How is keeping me inside this place doing me any good?!-

-...- the king looked at her.

Gray closed his eyes while listening to the upcoming fight.

-I am not even allowed to go out to the garden and I am even followed everywhere by everyone! How is that different from a prisoner?!-

-Ju-- she interrupted his father.

-Stop treating me like I'm some defenceless little girl!-

-Honey, we've talked about this plenty of times and you know its the only way to--

-To keep me safe?- she finished his sentence -...My mom would be ashamed of you- The king stood up abruptly and silence fill in the room.

Gray opened his eyes surprised.

-...DO NOT BRING UP YOUR MOTHER- Juvia became scared for a moment. Seeing his daughter like that made him clear his throat and sit back again.

-Look... I didn't want to talk about this today...-

-I called you in here because soon... your future husband will come to meet you-

-What did you just say..?- she murmured.

Gray's mouth opened up a little. Juvia... getting married..?

-His name is Lyon Vastia and he is the prince of Lamia Scale. Your marriage with him will bring prosperity and peace to both kingdoms-

-Not only you take away my freedom to live... Now you take away my freedom to love?!-

-Juvia...- Her beautiful eyes became red and tears started to flow through her blushed cheeks.

-I... I HATE YOU..!- Juvia went out of the room running, not even caring for Gray standing next to the door. He entered slowly into the room and saw the king sitting on the throne while looking desolated.

-Your majesty... I know this is non of my business to talk about but, don't you think this is an unfair decision to make?-

-I had no other choice... I hate myself for doing this to my daughter but, I really had no other choice...-

-What do you mean?-

-When Juvia's mother died, Lamia Scale's King threatened to attack us... they were the ones who tried kidnapping Juvia and killed most of my soldiers. With our lack of power at the moment, we wouldn't have been able to win a battle against them so in order to prevent a possible war, I made an agreement and when Juvia turned twenty she would marry Lamia's prince...-

Gray couldn't believe what he has just heard.