These Stories Are Reasonable

Prince Pt.1 (Castle AU)

Stephen sat carelessly and bored in the palace library, after 18 years stuck in this hellhole, his eyes had scanned nearly ever page of every book. There was a time, when the books had angered him with their gifts of paper cuts and exhaustion, from hauling them around. Now he pitied the books stuck here, in this stupidly poor castle. Sorry, the castle is actually pretty wealthy. It's the nearby towns and villages, owned by the castle and scattered throughout the kingdom, that are poor.

Most of this, the financial problems and such, is due to Stephen's father. 

"Stephen!" He screamed, though from the safety of the library, only a muffled angry tone could be heard, "Fetch him now!"

Stephen sighed, a servant would soon come to fetch him. He knew exactly the topic of this yelling. Their kingdom, though wealthy, would, at this rate, soon go bankrupt. Based off of the boy's knowledge, he'd deducted that they had less than two years before being "royal" would be pointless. Less than two year until his father had drank and gambled the castle's money away. Silently, Stephen had become to feel guilty about this topic, since he looked forward to it. Of course this would only mean terrible things for the palace, the towns, and the people of the kingdom. However, when all the money was gone there would be an immeasurable amount of chaos, and in this chaos, Stephen could slip through the cracks and disappear.

"My Prince!" A servant exclaimed, winded from the run, "The King requests your audience!" The servant leaned forward taking deep gulps of air between wheezes. It was quite the lengthy dash from the throne room to the library.

Stephen stood up, with a nod. Hopefully, this meeting would be to discuss how Stephen's presence in the castle was no longer needed. Due to his father's... lengthy list of heirs and woman. Stephen was indeed the oldest, but when looking at plain facts, removing him from the castle would be the smartest way to proceed. Seeing as how Stephen was the only person with the power to challenge his father's decisions, and would often.

Hopefully, that's the plan.

...

..

.

My King." Stephen spoke and bowed, he'd noticed when they hosted balls, years ago when his mother was still alive to host such events, that princesses and princes often addressed their parents casually. Though the auburn couldn't imagine doing such a thing.

"Boy," He started, "In exactly two days..."

Stephen closed his eyes, resisting the urge to smile. In exactly two days I'll be removed from the castle, he thought. The boy couldn't think of anything better than this outcome, there was no better one going forward, this is the only way the King can proceed.

"Well, I have a couple debts that will need paying. And my list of enemies? It's growing by the day." The man broke off into a fit of laughter, placing his hand on the thigh of the blonde woman who sat in his lap. "In two days time, you will meet with a royal from abroad."

And he will take me away as payment for the debts.

"You will be on your best behavior..."

I won't resist.

"...And you will convince him to marry you."

What?

"He comes from a very wealthy castle. You are expected to take his hand by any means necessary. Seduce him, Blackmail him, anything! This is my expectation of you. Leave now." The King motioned his hand towards the exit, clearly not seeing the shock of the boy in question.