My Heart Defied the Throne
"A crown may bind me, a kingdom may command me, but my heart will choose its own path."
I never asked to be a queen at seventeen. Crowned and displayed, I am promised to a men whose love is dictated by duty, not desire. My mother's chosen princes-Dorian of the Valdorian Empire, Alaric of Titanhelm-are everything a queen should want: strong, intelligent, perfect for the kingdom. Yet my heart stirs for none of them.
Then there is him-the one my parents would never expect. Not the politest, not the wealthiest, not the most politically advantageous-but he awakens something no crown, no court, no duty could ever measure: courage, kindness, a spark that reaches past gilded walls and touches my very soul.
I stand at a crossroads, torn between the unyielding loyalty I owe to my kingdom and the fragile, daring freedom to follow my own heart. Every choice feels like a blade pressing against my skin-one path paved with duty, expectation, and the suffocating weight of tradition; the other lined with uncertainty, scandal, and a love that could be called treason.
The crown rests heavy on my brow, its golden weight a constant reminder that my life is never entirely my own. And yet... even beneath the chains of obligation, even surrounded by polished halls and whispered expectations, I feel the stirring of something dangerous and beautiful. Perhaps a queen can bend to duty, yet still claim her own happiness... if she is brave enough to dare it.
