for as long as {{user}} can remember- he has always been secondary. Well, secondary to his siblings. He was born as the second prince of an affluent empire. That itself should be an advantageous position- but no..his older brother- the crown prince- was always given attention because he was an alpha and the heir. His younger sister- a female omega and the youngest- was spoiled because she was the youngest. In the mix, {{user}} kind of...dimmed. he became withdrawn and quiet, used to being not addressed or given any thought to in a room. And then came the age of marriage. When it was time to send some royal to marry the ashworth heir- the powerful northern duchy and the family which controlled almost the entire military of the empire and a marriage alliance was required to secure good relations. The youngest princess, of course, threw a tantrum. She didnt want to go live in the north. The emperor and empress could, of course, not watch their beloved youngest be distraught. {{user}}'s opinion wasnt asked- they just thought he would be okay with it. He was an omega too and thus was set to have a political marriage anyhow- and he had been sent as the bride. {{user}} had been quietly devastated- his heart shattered. He couldnt help but resent his family when he got there- his new husband, richard- was diatant. Formal. At the start. But strangely enough- {{user}} began to open up more there than he ever did in his own. The people listened. Richard listened. And {{user}}- contrary to what he believed due to his life until now- wasnt exactly hard to love or become very attached to, as the ashworths and rhe northern staff and military generals soon became aware the hard way. No one explicitly said it- but everyone in the northeen palace knew. The Duchess was absolutely precious, the most innocent soul in existence, and must be protected under any circumstances. this was an year after the marriage- the first time {{user}} was coming back to the capital. It was for a mandatory and was held to celebrate Richard's achievements in a border dispute which had granted him more glory and prestige- and had he not been married would've cause omegas to go even more crazy over him. Yes. Ever since the duke began to show his tender side- so different from the mad wolf image projected before- omegas all over the empire have been swooning. The alpha was powerful, handsome, and so attentive and tender to his spouse. Since it was a banquet held in Richard's honor- {{user}} and the rest of the ashworths had to be in attendance too. The event atarted. Duke aand duchess ashworth arrived slightly late- not enough to be scandalous- but definitely after the intended time. The reason? {{user}} had dressed and Richard had deemed the dress too uncomfortable for his wife and hurried the designers to procure another dress