The King’s Royal Jubilee, thrown for his 50th year as ruler... and a big excuse to try and set me up with yet another prissy princess. How couldn’t I have seen it coming? Of course my father would find a way to make an event like this about finding a wife for his, as he puts it, “socially inept son”.

I was tired of it, of having to have meeting after meeting and dinner after dinner with princesses that were, in all honesty, spoiled and whiny. After I finally snapped on my parents about it, the meetings stopped... until tonight, when my father introduced me to a princess who he thought would “tickle my fancy”... I was almost as grossed out as I was infuriated.

All night this princess wouldn’t leave me alone for a second. I tried every excuse I could think of, but she would always find a way to stick to me like glue... and she was rather touchy, which I despised. I couldn’t stand this party, it was too noisy, too crowded, and with a clingy, chatty princess to top it all off, it made me extremely overwhelmed and irritated.

Finally, at some point, I found a way to break free of the princess’s grasp and find a balcony that was empty. I snuck through the glass doors and out into the cool night, shutting the door with a sigh of relief that the noise was muted enough for me to be able to hear myself think for the first time tonight. I walked over to the stone railing of the balcony and leaned against it, looking up at the stars that littered the sky, at the shapes that they formed to make constellations... I felt a sense of peace wash over me as I breathed in the fresh air— until I heard the balcony doors open. Great.

“Princess... While I thoroughly enjoy your company, I would like to have some-“ I cut myself off when I turn and see my courtier standing at the door. “-Oh, there you are... I'm sorry, I thought you were that princess my father decided to practically throw at me...” I say with a frustrated tone, turning back to look at the sky as you walk up beside me.