The prince and the empress

Part 1

Shouto grimaced as the human being, currently seated in front of him, dared to breathe. He was judging that woman so hard it was almost painful.

From the corner of his eye, he could see his father eyeing the two expectantly, waiting for a sign to take as a clue that his son and the princess were interested in each other -even a small gesture would have been enough to satisfy him, really. But sadly, for the King, the young prince had no interest whatsoever in that bullshit that he was trying to set up.

Focusing his eyes on the princess again, he tried to keep up with whatever she was talking about. And sadly, for her too, he was not interested.

"That's why I would like to marry you honestly... I want to become legitimate and I really need for the two of us to get married. I'm not saying that I'm not interested in you! You're good looking and all! But with me being a child of one of his mistresses I need this engagement. Besides I didn't tell that to King Endeavour... Not yet at least. But I promise I will!" she said looking down at her full plate of food, faking guiltiness. Shouto snorted, wondering why she bothered to explain herself to him.

The young prince hummed, uninterested while chewing on his food, tasting the amazing sweets that the chefs of the castles baked carefully for him. After a couple of minutes, he felt eyes on him, so he decided to take a glance at the princess, noticing that she was looking expectantly at him waiting for something. Something that Shouto didn't know. He took a cupcake from his plate and extended it to her, offering her the same sweet he was eating.

"Cupcake?" he asked innocently, a dumbfounded expression on his face, feigning curiosity. The princess seated across him widened her eyes, disbelief readable on her face, offended by the way the prince acted toward her. Her face contorted in disgusts, baffled by his unroyal behavior.

"I cannot believe it! You're so insolent and insensitive! No woman will ever take the time to pay you any mind!" she screeched angrily, standing up and then storming out of the garden, probably even out of the Castel, and hopefully out of his life. Shouto watched the princess storming out, ungraciously if he may add, while angrily muttering to herself, then he shifted his attention on his father, watching in amusement as the blood from the King's face drained all.

King Endeavour could not believe it. There it goes again: another potential suitor leaving his palace in rage. He couldn't understand why all of them acted like that. His son was mannered, respectful, and good looking. During the meeting with different princesses, he was always a gentleman, treating them respectfully. But all of them would end up doing the same thing: leave the palace angrily, stomping their way out. The young prince snickered internally, feeling victorious yet again.

King Endeavour facepalmed, losing the little hope that remained inside him into finding a wife for his son. He could not understandwhy all of them would leave so angrily, almost offended by whatever his son told them, and the problem was that Shouto didn't even speak that much! The best match for his son would have been the princess Yaoyorozu, from the Kingdom of Creation, but she turned out to be engaged to princess Jirou of the Sound Kingdom. Grumpily talking to himself, he got up from the seat and went inside the castle, leaving his Queen alone to chuckle at the situation.

Queen Rei was the only one that knew the reason why his son refused all of the suitors. He was already in love, with a princess that the world hasn't heard of. It was truly a mystery to her. Shouto would talk for hours about this princess, but after all her researches she didn't find anyone under the name that Shouto provided her with. What baffled her more was how he kept reminiscing about a princess that he met two years ago, and talked to her only four times in total. Why her son was so hooked up on that specific princess she didn't know, but the love that she read into his eyes was undeniable. A pang of sadness tugged at her heart at the thought that he was, perhaps, waiting for that princess to show up as a suitor.