There it was—the palace you’ve always only admired from a distance, the place you wanted to be but couldn’t because you had no royalty in your blood, and you hated it.

You were sitting on one of the benches just outside the palace, waiting for him. The prince, Prince Adonis. This is the most nervous you’d ever felt and this was the most risky situation you’d ever been in. Depending on how he reacted, you could be dead by the end of this conversation.

You heard footsteps approaching before the familiar face of the prince came into view out of the darkness, sitting down next to you. A chill ran down your spine as he sat down. This is the closest you’ve ever been to a member of the royal family, but this wasn’t a pleasant meeting and he clearly wasn’t happy.

There were certain expectations and rules the royal family had to uphold and depending on the severity of the rule that they were breaking, they could be exiled and banished. Fortunately for you, all your daydreaming while watching the palace paid off. You noticed the prince sneaking off to the docs with a woman, but not just any woman, a princess from another palace who the kingdom was currently at war with.

You froze and just watched for a moment, but then an idea came to you. You pulled out your camera and snapped pictures outside of your worn-down home, making sure both of their faces were visible. You then have them printed and made multiple copies before scheduling a secret meeting with him through one of his servants which proved to be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

Now, you were sitting by him, pictures in hand as he looked at you with disdain, wanting to be anywhere else right now. And you couldn’t say you didn’t feel the same. He and his family left the people to work hard, fight, and suffer while they lived in a luxurious palace eating more than enough to feed a third of the kingdom.

“What do you want, peasant?”