⁺◦ 𝔥𝔬𝔱 | 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 .

↳ 𝐣𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 .

traditionally speaking, marriage proposals are supposed to spontaneous but yours won't be. you know exactly when and how you'll be proposed to.

the proposal will happen within the next twenty-four hours. the unenjoyable weather that hasn't changed in weeks will finally travel elsewhere—to torture another section of the kingdom, you're sure.

swimming proudly in the clear sky, the sun will be the first to congratulate you on your engagement.  your entire family, immediate and extended members, will swarm you and prince joshua. they, much like the sun, will be teeming with warmth and happiness.

you, on the contrary, will be filled with nothing but dread. reality will set in, sinking its claws into you so deeply that you'll have to surrender to its wishes.

if i pray, maybe the clouds'll never leave remortia.

"(y/n),"

who am i kidding? the sun'll be shining by morning. it'll set the scene for tomorrow's horror show, brining me to demise with a sunny grin.

"(y/n)! what did i tell you about daydreaming?" the king sits on the opposite end of the table, but his voice carries out across the great distance.

suddenly, it feels impolite for you to be leaning your head on your propped up arm.

"future monarchs don't daydream, especially not during official events." you say what you've been trained to say.

"so, why are you doing it?" the king doesn't even blink while servers set the table, he doesn't feel the need to sugarcoat things for their sake.

"not for mine either, apparently." the voice inside your head airs out the complaint that you know can never meet your lips.

"i sincerely apologize, your majesty, i was just thinking about the future." you say, while dipping your head down to thank the server that just set a gold plate in front of you.

another server appears almost instantly at your side to equip the table with gold silverware to match the plates. you dip your head down to thank him also, which is something your parents feel is completely unnecessary to do.

"she must be eager to meet her husband-to-be, darling." your mother chirps up.

you grimace at the word husband.

to hide your distasteful expression, you fix your tiara on your head. once you feel satisfied with its placement, you return your hands to your lap. rose, your younger sister, looks between the parents that you two share.

leave it to her to take pleasure in my misery.

edward, your younger brother, seems to be more interested in checking his reflection with the spoon that wasn't designed to be a reflection device. rose must've hit edward with her foot because his eyes pop up immediately. they lock unto the king and the queen and you're sure they'll laugh about the entire exchange later tonight.

"she should be eager to marry him so that remortia can reclaim its title as the most powerful section in the kingdom." the king says, inclining his empty chalice towards you.

using every muscle in your face, you force a smile that's so phony on your face that you're sure your teeth might crack soon. after he studies your smile, he smiles to himself. his hands start waving about in the air, as he starts barking out orders for the servers to follow. "someone bring me wine! where's my wife's silverware?!"

you find his display quite rude, so you shift your gaze down to where your hands are resting. memories start flooding your thoughts and you don't care to fight them off.

with every chance that he got, your father would always bring up the very reason why you must fulfill your duty. prince joshua is the only man that's worthy of his daughter, or that's what he told you  while you were going through your school years. almost like a detective, you could see right through his fancy vocabulary. you knew that you'd be forced into marrying the prince of allitora when you were a child. it didn't seem so terribly dreadful back then, but that was before you met someone who you'd marry instead of him.

the knight that served your family before you born comes into the room with a flourish, then he informs the king of the news of the arrival of the special visitors. "the king, queen, and prince of allitora are here, your majesty."

"let them in, knight roderick." the king instructs roderick.

you can feel your stomach curling at the thought of what's going to happen in a matter of seconds. pressing your hand against it to calm it, you just can't seem to think of anything else to do.

rose pulls your to your feet because you'd be breaking royal protocol by remaining seated when you greet another royal family. she whispers something in your ear. "you're so lucky, (y/n). you get to marry prince joshua."

rose decides to be nice for once, but you don't see her kindness as such. you can't seem to get past this dizziness that's starting to make your back sag. you hear the royal family's footsteps grow closer and closer.

a cook comes out, placing the dish that they worked to create on the table. you easily recognize the cook because you know him, you know him so well that it's frightening.

his caring, brown eyes read you just before your world spins out of control.