Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there lived a princess with hair as dark as the midnight sky and eyes as bright as the stars. She lived in a grand palace with her father and mother, the King and Queen who adored her and gave her everything she could ever want. Her favourite things were not the fancy dresses or sparkling jewels though, what she favoured the most were books. Books of fairytales and adventures; stories with prince charming ready to sweep her off her feet.
Unfortunately, life is not filled with happily ever afters, not even for a princess like her. It was never a princess’ job to be the heroine of romantic stories. A princess’ job was to marry someone of her station for the political advancement of her country. That was what her parents told her upon her 18th birthday as she had been promised to a prince of a neighboring country, a prince who was in his mid-thirties and was known for being snobbish and greedy and all around unpleasant.
The princess tried to run away to a nearby forest, all night she screamed and begged, hoping to find fae folk or elves or even a witch to bargain with like in the stories she’d read. She didn’t even mind being turned into stone temporarily or being cursed to a hundred years of sleep as long as she didn’t have to marry a complete stranger.
But her prayers were not answered. Though there were fae folk and witches and other things residing in the forest, they had long since learnt not to interfere with the affairs of humans, for humans were an unpredictable race, a race full of both dark and light, abiding by no rules that nature can govern. Humans, they had thought, were the ones they should be afraid of.
There was one who thought differently though. A young fae who saw the princess for who she was, not a part of the big bad human race, but a lonely soul desperate for a way out of her sadness. A soul searching for freedom. The young fae fell in love with the princess and tried to steal her away from her grievous fate.
Alas, it was already too late. By the time he found the spell to help the princess, her family had already found her and dragged her home to her inevitable future. They gave her no time to prepare, as they quickly roped her into a loveless marriage, leaving the poor fae to only stare from afar.
It only took one night for the repulsive prince to have his way with the princess. And another nine months for the princess to bear him a child. A daughter with hair just as dark and eyes just as bright as hers. And the princess saw in the little girl, the same fate that had befallen her. In that moment, the princess made a wish, a wish that her daughter would never have to suffer as she did.
The princess wished that her daughter and the children that came after, would only know the romantic touch of their true love and any other who tried to take them will suffer the consequences.
And the fae heard her wish and with all the power he had in him, bestowed the magic onto the little girl with the hopes that she will find the happiness that he and the princess never did.
Unfortunately, a wish to some may be a curse to others. Without the ability to make political marriages, the lineage of the royal family eventually fell to ruin and what started as the woes of a naïve young girl became the fall of an entire kingdom.
And that is where we are now, hundreds of years later, the small but once thriving kingdom, nothing more than a footnote in history.