Basic Trope: A pair of characters who, despite going through a dynamic that is typically seen in romantic couples, is not romantically involved with one another.
- Straight: Sir Charles rescues Princess Alice from bandits. But even though the Princess is impressed by Charles's gallant act, the incident doesn't lead to Rescue Romance, and their relationship remains professional.
- Exaggerated: After rescuing Princess Alice, Sir Charles brings her back to consciousness by giving her a long and passionate Kiss of Life. When she's finally awake, she blushes furiously once she realizes what happened and repeatedly thanks Sir Charles for rescuing her who blushes back and waves it off. Despite the obvious Ship Tease, they decide to remain strictly friends and never pursue a relationship with each other and they develop feelings for other people they barely interacted with instead.
- Downplayed:
- Princess Alice becomes Charles's Temporary Love Interest, but they eventually break up.
- After Charles defends Alice from her bullies, she thanks him with a kiss on his cheeks and tells him if it weren't for the fact that she's already taken, she would've dated him.
- Justified:
- Both Charles and Alice have their own lovers; despite some intimate moments between the two, they are not enough to break the ties they already have with their significant others.
- Charles and/or Alice are aromantic.
- Charles and Alice have Incompatible Orientations.
- Charles and Alice are Friends with Benefits who've agreed to not develop feelings for each other.
- Either Charles or Alice is secretly The Sociopath, and sees the other as a potential source of money, care and/or sex.
- Inverted: Sir Charles and Alice are betrothed, according to the bonus character bio, but due to their differing responsibilities, they almost never spend any time together.
- Subverted:
- Sir Charles is Princess Alice's dedicated knight, but despite his devotion and protectiveness towards her he doesn't fall in love with her because he's already married... until his wife either dies, turns evil or otherwise break ties with him, allowing him to be with Alice.
- Even if Alice is gay she still makes an exception for Charles.
- Double Subverted: Despite his newfound singleness, Charles still doesn't fall for Alice (partly because she's a Royal Brat, and partly because he doesn't want to deal with the titles he'd have to deal with should he actually marry her), and eventually ends up with her handmaiden.
- Parodied: Both Charles and Alice are Oblivious to Love Chaste Heroes, and despite the universe (plus Cupid) encouraging them to fall in love with each other, they never do.
- Zig Zagged: Charles and Alice form an Adventure Duo who go through many intimate moments during their travels, after which one or both of them would briefly consider romance. But they always decide that they're Better as Friends.
- Averted:
- Sir Charles and Princess Alice become an Official Couple after the Rescue Romance.
- Sir Charles and Princess Alice never interact.
- Enforced: "We need to have a Romance Arc. The audience love that. But we can't have the hero actually hook up with the girl afterwards. That'll end his adventure."
- Lampshaded:
- "She Is Not My Girlfriend!"
- "You're not going to court the Princess even after you rescued her from those bandits? That's... rare."
- Invoked: Charles wants to refute the claim that "men and women can't be friends" by proving that you can form a very deep emotional bond with someone of the opposite gender without it necessarily leading to actual romance. So, even though Charles makes dinner for Alice every day, and she always tends to his wounds, and they repeatedly stand up for each other in front of their Mean Boss, etc., they never develop romantic attraction, and remain as friends that are just attached at the hip.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "I may have rescued the Princess, but that doesn't mean we've to fall in love with each other."
- Conversed: "They say that Charles and Alice aren't in love each other. But the way they interact, they might as well be married."
- Deconstructed: Charles and Alice's respective Love Interests see how good Charles and Alice look together, and become increasingly worried, insecure and/or jealous about this, putting a lot of strain into all of their relationships.
- Reconstructed: Charles and Alice arrange a meeting with their respective significant others to clear things up, and they all make peace with each other.
- Played For Laughs: Sir Charles's friends, wrongly assuming that he's going to marry the Princess, throw a bachelor party for him after his return. Sir Charles is clueless about this and goes along because he thought the party was for someone else. Hilarity Ensues when the truth is cleared up.
- Played For Drama: Evil Chancellor Dogan spreads a rumour that because Sir Charles has rescued the Princess, they would inevitably fall in love and elope. Princess Alice's betrothed, Prince Bob, wages a war against Alice's kingdom over this perceived betrayal.
Back to The Not-Love Interest
