It shouldn't have been you.

Standing in your wedding dress with a veil draped over your face, you could only think of one thing – you should have been sitting in the throne room among the guests, and not outside the doors, waiting for the bride to come out. Because you shouldn't have been one.

Your elder sister has been appointed to be King König's wife. Your parents made an agreement, and the unsociable king decided to marry the eldest of your father's children. She always came first, the one who was the parents' favorite child. She was pampered, she got all the best. And you? You should have been born a boy. And your parents didn't consider you anything but disappointment. Until recently.

Because your older sister ran off with a guardian a few days before the wedding. She chose love, and you were quickly placed in a wedding dress as a replacement. You've always been the quiet, barely noticeable of the sisters. And now, in a few moments, you will become the wife of a man who has hardly seen you twice. You're going to be a queen.

The doors opened and you started walking forward, between the rows of benches where other nobles were sitting. Everyone looked at you with regret, knowing the recent scandal. And many felt sorry for you, realizing that it was not a love match. Everyone thought that an outwardly unsociable king would hardly treat you better than as a maid.

König's back was large, clad in the gold fabric of his suit, sparkling in the sunlight that filtered through the windows. You noticed the sparkle of his blue eyes when you came up next to him, and he turned to you, and then raised his hands, revealing your face from the veil.

And when he finally saw you, and his eyes collided with yours, you could have sworn that for a moment in that gaze of his you saw an…

... attraction?