It is the season for love and murder in the court of Ravaeryn.
After a chance encounter one winter night, Lady Catarina de Fontaine had fallen hopelessly in love with Julian, the Crown Prince. However, upon discovering his untruthfulness, she immedi...
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1711, Aethiel Palace, Kestramore City
"You can't be serious," Alessandro huffed, looking at Julian in disbelief. "You mean to say that your mother wants you to marry this first cousin of yours, one that you have never even met before ?"
"Of course I am serious," Julian hissed. "I can't help but think that all of this is planned. Just imagine it, she turned up at that part of the castle in the middle of the night, uncompanied. What do you think happened ?"
"Oh no, I'm not smart enough for this," Alessandro groaned, running his finger through his dark gold hair. "Although, I must admit that this cousin of yours is quite fair indeed."
"Then go and ask for her hand in marriage. That's one less problem for me to deal with."
Alessandro shook his head. "I am a loyal gentleman, Your Highness," he declared magnanimously. "My heart belongs to Lady Catarina, and there it shall remain till the day I die."
"Bollocks," Julian chuckled. "You visit brothels on a daily basis and you want to talk about loyalty!"
"I was merely making friends, Your Highness," he deflected. "There is a difference between making friends and falling in love with someone."
Julian did not answer. Instead, his eyes roamed over the palace gardens, and from afar, he could see the General's daughter, Jessamine le Comte tearing the canvas apart, while Lavinia Olivier was sobbing into her palms after a jar of red paint spilled all over her painting.
His head throbbed with pain when he remembered that he had to marry one of these girls very soon, whether he liked it or not.
"Julian !" a voice suddenly called out, the tone full of urgency.
A young boy with light brown hair and thick rimmed glasses rushed into the garden, his dark blue eyes filling up with tears. "Julian, Pouf went missing !" he cried out.
Pouf happened to be the Terrawinian white rabbit that belonged to Prince Marcus, Julian's little brother. The young prince, known for being incredibly soft-hearted, began to sob as soon as he discovered that Pouf was not in his cage.
"You should ask the guards to look for him," Julian said with a frown. "Why are you telling this to me ?"
Marcus, unable to accept Julian's nonchalance, began to openly bawl, and it was Alessandro who reached out to console him.
"There, there Little Prince. Of course Julian will go and look for Puffy! He is-"
"His name is Pouf," Marcus clarified between sobs.
"Yes, yes, Pouf. Julian will go and look for Pouf, because he is a good brother. Isn't that right, Julian ?" Alessandro said, his grey eyes flickering towards the elder prince.
