1705. Luck had never been on Eleanora Finley's side. After her father died in a tragic fire, she was left at the mercy of her domineering and abusive mother, being deprived of all love and affection.
Truly, who would have thought that the simple red...
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1695, Aethiel Palace, Kestramore City
Ring around the roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down.
Deep, thoughtful blue eyes gazed up at the portrait hung on the wall, though he did not see the face of his mother and father. Instead, all he saw was a black veil.
When the plague first struck the southern city of Beaummiers, he was quickly shipped off to Kestramore City to stay with his cousins, while his father and mother remained behind to help curb the plague. A massive wall was erected overnight surrounding the city, keeping the citizens in and the outsiders away.
Prince Anatole's plan was a success, and the plague never made its way out of the confines of the city.
Well, the historians from the neighbouring cities were the ones who viewed it as a success, partly because no one ever claimed otherwise. Which is largely due to the fact that over two-thirds of the citizens of Beaummiers died during the plague.
None of the historians had seen such a plague before, one that caused the victim to profusely bleed from every orifice on their body and every pore on their skin, one that made the victims cry blood. It vanished as quickly as it came, and it took the Prince and Princess Consort along with it.
"What will happen now ?" his cousin, Princess Demitria asked softly as she stood behind him, tearfully watching his sunken figure. "Will you stay with us here forever, Niko?" Nicholas let out a sigh and slowly turned around.
"No," he whispered in return. "The queen-- your mother, has decided my fate. I will be sent to Devereaux to become a soldier."
Demitria gasped in shock. "Devereaux ? Isn't it terribly cold there ? And you hate the cold, Niko!"
Nicholas did hate the cold. And the queen knew that.
His father, the late Prince Anatole had been King Guillaume's fraternal twin brother. While his brother was a robust and charismatic man, Anatole himself was quiet and reclusive, preferring to wear long, loose clothing to hide his limp arm.
Guillaume had spent his youth travelling the continent with his best friends, Elliott de Fontaine and Maximillian Van Den Berg, the Crown Prince of Amaris, while Anatole obediently married Morgana Antonia of House Breckenridge as his mother had wanted him to.
As a result, Anatole had already produced a legitimate heir while Guillaume clearly had not. This ired Queen Isabel, back then Crown Princess Consort.
Her firstborn had been a girl, and as the days passed, she became more and more resentful towards the innocent little boy, wishing that he would fall down and break his neck, so that he could never reach for her throne.
