A Quest of The Heart

Sudden Escalation

The last week before the arrival of the princess, Shouto was awakened by the sun shining in his eyes. He used the blanket and covered his face to shield his eyes from the sun's rays. A calico cat jumped on him and used her paw to pull the cover from his face meowing. He woke up and pet her soft fur smiling.

"Alright I'm up you silly cat. Come on now get off so I can get out of bed."

The cat meowed and made her way out of his room and made her way down the stairs to the dining room.

In the meantime, in the prince's chambers he got up and stretched dreading the week after this as he got up and got dressed in his clothes for the day. He quickly put on a pair of black pants, a royal blue and white trimmed shirt, dark leather bracers, his dark leather boots and a navy-blue jacket. He made his way to his balcony that looked out at his vast kingdom.

The dawn sky was a beautiful purplish-orange as he looked up at it, and then out to the forest surrounding the castle with small shapes of the buildings of his kingdom just past the forest. As he looked out Bakugou and Kirishima's words played in his head.

'Enjoy every minute you can with your knight and savor it and try to get to know the princess. Enji can't rule forever, and you can't carry on like a baby. We need a king that will take over this kingdom and there is only you left.'

Below he could see his knights Lady Yaoyorozu and Sir Iida sparring, his eyes were fixed on his beautiful raven-haired knight. The only woman he could ever love, the only one that could cheer up such a sorrowful prince. He sighed with so much pain in his eyes about the next week.

'I don't want to get to know the princess, I can never love her. My heart is only for Momo. I will not get stuck in a loveless marriage like my parents I just can't.'

His train of thought was interrupted as there was a knock on his door. He shook his head and closed his balcony door and answered. His father was standing by his doorway.

"Your mother convinced me to give you another week Shouto, but I am warning you. Do not try and leave the castle to get out of this marriage. It is the best thing for our kingdom and you need to accept it. That is your duty as a prince - to sacrifice your feelings for your kingdom. Now hurry downstairs and eat your breakfast before you go train with Lady Yaoyorozou."

Shouto looked at his father with no words and followed him down the gold and platinum spiral staircase. They entered the dining hall and Shouto sat in his seat as his siblings Fuyumi and Natsuo just stared at him as he began to eat. They looked at each other and then at their younger sibling.

Fuyumi broke the silence.

"Are you sick Shouto, usually you are arguing with father as we eat. Have you actually grown up and accepted the engagement instead of acting like a baby?"

Shouto looked up from his meal and glared to his sister.

"For the last time I was not acting like a baby!" he barked in frustration at the topic. "The whole thing is pissing me off and I am tired of hearing everyone bitching me out about it so I am choosing to ignore it for now," he growled as his focus dropped back to his food.

Enji sat at the head of the table glaring daggers at his youngest son.

"You've already agreed to this Shouto, don't forget that," he grumbled deeply. "No matter what happens you will not be weaseling your way out of this. And Fuyumi, quit bringing this up if Shouto isn't going to complain outright about this."

"Awe come on he's-"

"Natsuo not another word!" Enji snapped. "You gave up your right to the throne and you're lucky I haven't thrown you out on your ass already! Not another word about this! Understood!?"