Prince (Ess)

1. Shoto (POV): The Meeting

My morning had started earlier than normal. My father, nobleman Enji Todoroki, had personally woken me up for more training. He had been training me to be the perfect gentleman since I was five years old. Before I was even born my father had promised to have me marry the king's daughter. Apparently the king and my father were good friends from their childhood days.

I didn't want to marry the princess. For one thing, I didn't even know the girl! I was turning eighteen in a few months and I had still never met her! Another thing was I never wanted to get married. The main reason was because of my family's dynamic. My father was a wealthy man and could get away with things, like breaking my mother enough that she had scarred the left side of my face with boiling water. I hated the man.

I had three older siblings, Toya, Fuyumi and Natsu, but they were ignored all because they weren't seen as important. I was important because I was going to marry a princess. Like I even cared! I was also born with an exceedingly powerful quirk for a nobleman's son. None of that mattered to me, but I had no choice in the matter. If I told my father no to anything, he would punish me severely.

I was led by my father to his study rather than the training room. I was a little confused, but kept my mouth shut. He sat me in a chair and turned to face me. His face unnerved me, though I didn't let it show. He looked excited and that was never a good sign.

"You may have noticed that I awakened you earlier than normal, Shoto." Enji stated the obvious. I just nodded. "Today you and I have somewhere very important to be and so we need to move your training to now so we won't be late for our engagement."

"And what is 'our' engagement?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I hoped it wasn't meeting another one of his war buddies. I hated all of them.

"You are finally going to meet your betrothed today." He broke the news to me.

This was the last thing I was expecting. After seventeen years of hearing about my betrothed, I was finally going to meet her. Why? Why now? Why did it have to wait this long? Not that I care much. No matter who she is or what she looks like I will never love her. I don't want to get married! "Excuse me?" I questioned.

"Aren't you excited? You get to meet the princess you have been destined to be with since birth." My father's loud voice echoed in my ears. Yeah, I heard you the first time, but why?

"I guess," I whispered, not really wanting to say anything, but knew my father wouldn't drop it until I said something.

"Well, I suppose you don't have much of an opinion yet, but once you meet her I'm sure it will change. Now let us begin your rigorous training." He announced, and grabbed me by the wrist. He dragged me to the training room and began our training.

Enji called it training, but it was more like abuse. He would make me duel him until I was too tired to continue. The duel was different everyday depending on what we were fighting with. Today we were using swords. I'm not very good with a sword, but that didn't matter because according to my father, I'd get better at it. It was a pain.

I would lunge and dodge, but I was never fast enough to hit him or remain unscathed. "Your reflexes are slow, Shoto. You need to act faster!" My father chastised.

I grunted in response, but still wasn't quick enough. I lunged at him trying to tap his abdomen, but he dodged and brought his blade down on my arm. It cut pretty deep, even though I had the wound I wouldn't be allowed to stop. We kept dueling till my father said it was time to clean up and get ready to meet the king and princess.

I got back to my room to find my sister, Fuyumi, waiting for me. She always patched up my cuts and bruises after my intense training sessions. "This gash is really deep, Shoto. You should see a real doctor. I'm not sure if this will heal properly." She informed me looking at my cut.