Dark Crown {Crowned Trilogy, Book 1} | ↺

Prologue

NOTE (and please, please, don't ignore this): The queendom is named Aurastralia (a FICTIONAL country) - this is a variable name of Australia, and it looks very similar, I know - but I was not writing this about the monarchy of Australia (I'm even sure if they have one ^-^).

ALSO: Please, please, I know this is definitely not that great of a chapter, and I've gotten so many comments about that. I wrote this at least two years before the rest of the story was written, and I haven't edited it yet because I don't think this will be a permanent chapter.

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"The queen has decreed that Princess Skylet Aurora Louise de Milan will be the heiress to the Aurastalian throne! From this day forward, Princess Skylet shall bear the royal name as well as the title of Crown Heiress!" the announcement rang throughout the courtyard as the herald folded up his scroll with a sense of smug satisfaction.

Uncertain murmurs rippled out through the crowd of several hundred thousands of people. Princess Skylet was known widely for her fiery, carefree, and reckless attitude, unlike her older, more mature and serious sisters. "Why was the third daughter chosen?" was the question that passed through thousands of mouths that day, from maid to housewives, knight to knight, rich to poor - the whole nation was abuzz with gossip, theories, and conspiracies.

"The older de Milan sisters must be dead! Oh, woe are we!" cried some anguished young men who had or were planning to court the first and second royal daughters. The whole country had heard of their exquisite beauty, such that foreign princes never heard of would stay for months at a time, trying to light a spark of love in their beautiful hearts.

"It must be a marriage alliance!" a group of well-to-do men whispered as they dined on fine foods with equally fine ladies next to them. "The two older sisters must have been married into Estia and Gedona - they are powerful nations we may need as allies, if Orienta follows up its threats for war." The talk quickly turned to politics and war after that.

And so, it went like this for weeks. Eventually, the buzz died down, as all scandals and rumors and gasp-invoking royal decrees do. The people simply accepted that the next ruler was Princess Skylet. "She is still young after all. Who knows what a few years may do to her?"

With that notion in mind, seven peaceful years passed, and the spring arrived where Skylet would turn 16 and become of eligible age to be courted. Prospective earls and dukes and barons and even princes showed up in the nation's capitol of Astra, all hoping their dreams of wealth, power, and one very beautiful princess would be fulfilled.

And it was here, where all the nobles with their great wealth and might, were gathered, where several things happened, and almost like a domino chain, they led to one thing.