A short story about Jeile's first love. I found it interesting that there wasn't even a sidestory about it, since it seemed like it would be an extremely entertaining one. This is my take on what happened. I obviously do not own MeruPuri and this is merely a fanfic, which is why it is being posted here and not being rejected by a publisher. I should point out that I don't know what colour Lei's eyes are, so for the sake of this story they're green. Correct me if you know their true colour. Spoiler warning for those who have not read all four volumes of the manga. Please enjoy my fanfiction debut. :3

White Rose Maiden

It was a typical day in the kingdom of Astale – the sun was shining, the people were merry, and Jeile was skipping his royal duties. At twelve years old, Jeile was yet to develop his playboy tendencies, though the airy way he handled his responsibilities was in force long before. On this particular day, Jeile had planned a riskier escape than usual; through the palace gardens, all the while maintaining an advanced invisibility spell he had just learnt the week prior. Jeile wasn't bad at magic – in fact; he was among the best of his class – but as with most spells, he needed practise to pull it off successfully. He had reached the stage where he could recall the words effortlessly, but could not divert much of his attention to any distractions or else the invisibility would wear off.

Perhaps celebrating all too soon, Jeile's triumphant beam was stretched across his face by the time he reached what he knew was the centre of the gardens. As expected of any royal garden, the land was lush with exotic plants and the air was heavily perfumed with the scents of many different flowers. Drunk on his success and rather intoxicated by the sweet smells, Jeile stumbled and, cushioned by the grass, raised hazy eyes to be met with a heavenly sight. Mouth agape, he stared at the vision before him. Golden hair kissed by sunlight. Deep green eyes framed with long, dark lashes. Soft, pink rosebud lips. The somewhat cliché scene was made complete with a shower of white rose petals that blew around the petite figure and the now visible prince. Without taking his eyes off the other, Jeile slowly stood up and stepped towards her. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat. "Wh… wh…" The girl stared at him coolly, seemingly unfazed by the fact that a boy had suddenly appeared out of thin air. "WHITE ROSE MAIDEN!"

Jeile woke up in his room with an extremely sore face. Rubbing his throbbing cheek, he turned his head to find his sour-faced nanny in the doorway. "The king requests that you join him in the throne room upon regaining consciousness," she recited flatly. "And you should get some ice for that." Sighing in self-pity, and still confused about what had just happened, Jeile made his way to the throne room, ignoring the attention his obviously swollen cheek was attracting. Opening the door, his jaw dropped in surprise. "Y-you!" Jeile stuttered, pointing at the beauty he had met in the palace gardens. "I see you have met Lei," the king said. "He will be Aram's caretaker." Whatever else the king had to add was lost on the young prince, as his consciousness faded away once more, a single word echoing in his mind. He… he… he…

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Poor Nei had no idea of the trauma Jeile associated with the title of 'White Rose Maiden' when she declared herself as such, unintentionally adding another couple of years before Jeile could stop running away and hiding from her. But in the end, as we all know, everything ended happily. Jeile ascended to the throne with Nei as his queen, Lei was obviously male, and Aram and Airi were married… however, there were no longer any white roses in Astale's royal gardens.