Lucian sighed, feeling a heavy weight on his chest. This was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He had never been proposed to before, let alone by someone as extraordinary as Princess. His mind was a storm of emotions, and his heart felt like it was stuck in an endless loop of confusion.
No matter how much he had tried to toughen himself after the countless rejections he had suffered in his past, deep down, Lucian remained the same shy, innocent boy who struggled with matters of the heart. And now, faced with Celestia's bold declaration, he found himself frozen, unsure of what to say.
He didn't want to hurt her feelings. Rejection was something he knew all too well, the sting of it still fresh in his memory. He didn't want to put that same pain into someone else's heart, even though his own had been shattered so many times.
