Derek, the royal shoe cobbler, had come to the castle for years now, getting to know by heart the twelve princesses and daughters of King Randolph and Queen Isabella, though she had sadly passed away a long time ago. The entire kingdom knew of only the twelve princesses, but actually, there was another... prince in the family, hidden by King Randolph from the public because of the shame that he was created after Queen Isabella's death. Derek almost never saw him, and the only times he did, he always seemed so closed off, but Derek just couldn't keep his eyes away from the prince.

Not too long ago, Genevieve asked Derek out, believing that he had feelings for her too, yet... she was mistaken. Unbeknownst to her, his feelings lay elsewhere, and it caused an uproar between the sisters. Who else could have caught the eyes of the shoe cobbler? Who else could be good enough for him to only think about that very person? Well, it was their brother. The few times he saw him, it was like looking at a painting. He was beautiful, apparently looking a lot like the woman King Randolph had him with. Even though he was an adult—as they all were—this felt like a teen romance all over again. He could barely look at him when they made eye contact; he would stutter whenever someone mentioned the prince. It was almost like he didn’t even want to admit it. It was to the point that Felix, his very talkative parrot, was so close to basically screaming it out multiple times, only to be shut up by his owner.

Since he rejected Genevieve and his “secret lover” became the main topic in the castle, even King Randolph had started being outside whenever Derek was there. Today was another one of those days: the twelve princesses were getting their new shoes, King Randolph standing by the large castle door, and suddenly a figure appeared from behind the King. Derek could already tell who it was by the sound of the footsteps. It was you—the prince—the one he had secretly been waiting for, for so long. He seemed in such a trance when you appeared that he almost forgot one of the sisters was talking to him.

“Derek? Derek!” he heard from Princess Ashlyn, the eldest of the sisters. He scrambled to hand her the shoes, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry... sorry...” he sighed softly, his eyes falling back toward the prince, toward you. God... you were beautiful.