✃彡 [ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ꜰʀᴜɪᴛ] 彡✃ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ʀᴏʏᴀʟꜱ ᴀᴜ

- Ⅰ -

NOTES:

just a notice to say that anything written in italics represents the past and anything in bold represents something that occurs in the future. to some readers the writing style may be confusing but it will hopefully clear up. also please take note of what p.o.v you are reading, this will be shown with their initial after the scissor divider.

✃ - - - - W.

''I assure you that this is in fact vital for our kingdom. It is not a childish ploy to get you to marry, but a final plea because you as much as every one of our citizens know that we can not support ourselves.''

She sighed, an anguished hint laced into her words tainted with a guilt-tripping purpose.

''you need to find a partner to court Wilhelm whether they be a duke, knight, duchess or lord. I understand you have very specific ...urges and I am willing to bend the traditions to accommodate these choices but you still need to marry for the sake of our economy.''

''I refuse to live in a loveless marriage, one out of convenience''

''This is not a choice or a want Wilhelm, it's a need. you are our last remaining heir, there is nobody else that can bind two domains in need, nobody else to produce heirs, nobody else to keep our people happy, nobody else to keep our image pristine. our kingdom is failing we can not do this on our own, we need help.''

✃ - - - -

A masquerade ball. an occasion meant to secure, trade, gloat, negotiate and dance. An event supposed to drip is festivities and formal greetings and yet what surrounded him looked nothing more than a lavish room coated in costly decore to hide the desperate conversations between land leaders and mothers pressuring their sons to find a wife. At first glance it would look like the occasion was bustling with joy as couples started dancing, clueless as to who was behind the mask, variations of nobility picked up two champagne flutes at a time and poured them down their throats, etiquette forgotten while they laugh at the beginnings of a drunken haze and as a marchioness snuck her way into the arms of a duke. Once you dared to glace a second longer you would see that the joy was simply fake. Those couples danced because they had to, the baron holding an empty glass and the princess fourth in line picking up multiple drinks were drowning their distaste away and the duke was merely desperate for a warm mouth and soft skin.

The soft music drifted around him, it refusing to change tunes and sticking to a single melody on a loop. it was as irritating as the way a pineapple troubled your tongue after consuming it. it ticked in his mind until he could memorise the beats and shift in tone that happened once in a while, until he could hum it without the tune playing in the background and until all his thoughts turn into fluid and only a grating rhythm of 'dun-dun-dun-do-do-dun' played in his mind. They cheered and waltzed along the freshly polished floor, liquor flowing into their mouths at a relentless pace while they twirled to the noise of the same irksome melody.

The silk they wore swirled into a mesh of vibrant colours, the silver necklaces clashed against their chests and their masks fluttered along with the movements made. handheld masks made with feathers, full-faced disguises with petals of white, head-to-nose pieces with pointed beaks and embellishments of silver. wonderfully diverse and yet so similar. Women wore cashmere dresses up to their feet, dresses that would drag behind them, dresses that needed to be picked up while the ladies wandered and these garments would have to include trimmings and ruffles, jewels and diamonds. Men were no better. A suit made of pure wool only, two buttons of three done up, no less and no more, a tie adorned with a gleaming gem, a bowtie fastened neatly or a neck piece made of folds and frills must be worn, a tailed coat, a fitted waistcoat and even a propped up collar is guaranteed to be on most men. colours such as black, grey and navy are strictly for gentlemen. bright pinks, soft yellows and any other vivid hue you can think of were precisely for the females.