CHAPTER 7

The King's broken vow.

It was quite the news during that time.A prince who broke off his wedding, for he had fallen in love.

The Crown Prince of the Empire, Shawn Contreas, was engaged to the sole Princess of the House of Ivy, Belladonna Ivy, at a young age of thirteen.

It was said to be a Perfect Match.

The Flower of the Society was to wed the young Sun of the Empire.

But little did the Flower know that soon ,

such praises would be soon sung for someone else.

A year before reaching Adulthood, Shawn had unofficially taken the post of a King and received a surprising marriage proposal from the Kingdom of Lunar.

The Kingdom seemed desperate to send their Princess away and were thus offering more than ten mines of magic stones, gold and diamonds.

The Kingdom of Lunar was the kingdom that lay in the East, adjacent to Solbrillar, and was the most mysterious Kingdoms known to mankind. They were once known for their Magic stones, jewellery, spices and silk. They were also the only Kingdom which had Spiritualists, that is, people who could interact with natural elements like fire, water, earth, wind, light and dark. They were the trading hub of the East and had friendly relationships with every other kingdom. But one fine day, they had shut off their gates from the outside world and had never opened them for nearly a century.

All of a sudden, they not only opened the gate with a marriage proposal, but were also willingly trading away some of the famed mines of their kingdom.

The Noble faction was in an uproar. There was no question for refusing such a generous proposal. Almost immediately, they started requesting the current Crown Princess to vacate her position as the Empress and take up the position of the Concubine.

Such insults infuriated the young King, but his hands were tied. The Noble faction can take this matter to the Emperor, that is, his father, and the former marriage would be called off.

He didn't want that.

Shawn insisted that the Lunar Princess stay in the Kingdom as a revered guest for a period of two months. If she still wishes to marry the Emperor her wish would then be granted.

On her arrival, the Princess was shifted to the Ebony palace which lay to the south of the Imperial Palace.

At that time, other than Shawn, only two other potential bachelors existed.

The Grand Duke of Riverton, Arden Riverton, and the Young Duke of Aureolin, Bayne Aureolin.

They were the right and left hands of the young King.

Shawn knew that Bayne already had a secret lover, thus he tried introducing Arden to the Princess of Lunar, Celestina Lunar.

While doing so, Shawn unexpectedly fell in love with the Princess's best friend, Tarina Lunar, who acted as his partner-in-crime.

In the Kingdom of Lunar, everyone was treated equally, no matter their origin. Thus, everyone in that Kingdom had a common surname, that is, Lunar.

The King was soon blinded by love, which gave him the strength to fight with the Noble faction and have Tarina crowned as the Future Empress while Celestina wished to be wedded to Arden. The Kingdom sealed the deal and the young couple lived a happy married life.

But amongst all this, the crimson flower was long forgotten.

The King was never in love with Belladonna. But he was indebted to her for his life.

A few years back, Shawn was at the brink of death. A deadly poison was laced into his tea and no cure could be found whatsoever. The House of Ivy was suspected for this incident. When the head of the house was taken into custody, Belladonna Ivy, the daughter of the Head of Ivy, threw herself into research to find a cure. All she wanted was her family name to be cleared. She succeeded in finding the antidote in time, saving the Crown Prince.

Thus, the Prince was forever indebted to her.

To repay her, he promised to marry her on reaching adulthood. But strangely, what he felt for her wasn't affection but gratitude, while Belladonna was head over heels for him.

Her dreams were broken, but she never had the heart to claim back what was rightfully once hers.

She quietly stepped down from her post.

But, ever since, any mishap on the Imperial family was blamed on the House of Ivy.

They would whisper about it, no matter what the evidence stated, and they called it , "Belladonna's Revenge."

…

"I can change the public opinion." Evelina continued, "At least I can take over the spotlight and divert their focus on me."

The King was yet confused. The young girl was either too naive to understand the situation properly, or too cunning to make use of such a situation.

"How do you propose to do so?" the King asked.

"It's quite simple, really" Evelina replied, " If you favour me more than the Crown Prince, and let me hold a certain amount of authority, the nobles would believe it to be no better than handing me the throne completely."

"That would be futile at the end." The King spoke with a calm smile, indicating that Azure was the sole owner of the Crown.

"I do not covet the throne, your Imperial Majesty," Evelina said in reply, "I just wish for a clean divorce."

"Pft!" The King nearly spilled the tea in surprise.

"(cough-ahem!)What on earth do you mean, Princess?" The King asked, flabbergasted.

"I mean what I said, your Imperial Majesty," Eve calmly replied, "I wish to divorce the Crown Prince."

…

"Did you hear? The King and the Crown Princess had breakfast at the Imperial Garden!"

"Even the Prince wasn't allowed there!"

"The King bestowed her a necklace of mermaid tears just because she made him laugh!"

"What's happening?"

"What's going to happen to the Crown Prince now?"

A harsh glare shunned the whispers of the passing maids.

The personal guard of the Crown Prince, Sir Rainier, tried to hush down every whisper around the Prince, yet was futile at the end.

The rumours spread like a wildfire.

"The Crown Princess melted the stone-cold heart of the King."

"Rubbish." Rainier mumbled as he escorted Azure to the courtroom.

Hardly a few hours ago, Azure returned to the Imperial Palace amidst these turn of events.

Along with him was his personal Knight, Sir Raniel, as well as a kid covered in a light brown cloak. None of his features were exposed other than his dark feet, which seemed to catch every passerby's eye due to the golden anklet adorning his right ankle.

"Greetings to the Sun of the Empire, His Imperial Majesty, Imperial Father." Azure greeted as he entered the reception hall, "I bring good news."

…