The Ruby Empire

Prince Florent the Drider

Male Monster Female Monster

I can remember my mother reading to me at bedtime, telling me stories of princes and their princesses. How they started with 'once upon a time' and ended with a 'happily ever after.' They always bored me to tears. Good triumphed over evil and blah blah blah. All for what? A girl? It never ever made sense to me. I thought it was always so ridiculous that this prince, someone so great and beloved, would risk it all because of some princess in a tower.

When it came down to it, I much preferred my own company. I knew in my heart that I was more beautiful than any princess could be. So, as I grew, I focused all my attention on myself. I made sure that I was the one the looking glass would call 'the fairest in the land.' That was another thing I couldn't stand about those silly stories. The princess was also the most beautiful, the fairest, the kindest, the blah blah blah blandest creature. They never sounded worth anything except their looks.

Sure, I know what you're thinking reading this: King Florent, didn't you just say you put all your efforts into your looks? Why, how very astute of you! Yes, I do put a lot of effort into my beauty and my vanity. But I am also educated and traveled. I make myself interesting as well as glamorous.

Anyways, you must think I have high standards, and indeed, I do. But I have not given up on romance. Deep in my heart, I am a romantic. I long for a queen, someone beautiful like the roses that grow in my garden. I want to cherish me and hold onto me like the flowering vines on the palace walls. I want to drape her in silk and satin. And even if she is beautiful, I will still be the lovelier one. Scoff all you like, doesn't everyone one hope to be the prettiest?

Anyways, it has become a pressing issue as of late that I marry. I became king rather young, my father died unexpectedly in an accident. In the midst of grief and anguish over losing my best friend and father, I became a reluctant king. My mother has not quite fully recovered from her pain. Her one wish is that someday I marry, finding a love like she and my father cherished for too few years. I love my mother, and I want to make her happy, but I feel no one will fit my standards. I feel no one would appreciate me as much as I do.

One of the few pleasures my mother has is arranging balls and parties. I indulge her, granted I enjoy attending such events myself. But I let her plan these things to her heart's content. Otherwise, I fear she would rot away. She has one coming up, between her many high teas and the like, she's orchestrated a masked ball for all the neighboring kingdoms. I know these are also her veiled attempts to get me to meet princesses and noblewomen from all around, hoping one of them will catch my eye and we'll be wed.

"Oh darling," she huffs at me as I get ready. "Do you really need such fanciful accouterments?" She fusses about as I paint my face. "It is a mask after all."

"Mask or not," I reply as I lay an inky brush to my lips. "I still wish to look my best."

She takes a brush and combs my long hair. The dark purple faded into pink and then pastel pink at the very tips. I've never cut my hair, aside from the occasional trim to relieve myself of split ends. How could I ever cut such beauty?

"Your father was like that too," my mother sighs. "Always so concerned with appearances." She sets the brush down and smooths out my coat tails over my abdomen that juts out behind me. Unlike my father and I who are pinkbloom driders, my mother was black drider. And while she was beautiful, she did not have the same regality and splendor my father, and I have. She is all black, while my colors fade from purple to pink, giving me the glow of a sunset horizon. My mother's beauty was simple and effortless, and part of me envied her for that.

"Beauty isn't everything, love," she kisses my cheek then strokes the soft curls in my hair.

"Beauty is a great deal," I correct. "But there is more to life than just that." I wink at her, and she smiles softly.