As a ruler, Simon Riley had to put forth effort. He was practically groomed for his job since birth, trained and taught and beaten into an excellent king. He put his people first, making wise decisions, working hard, choosing what would benefit the kingdom.

And at the moment, what his kingdom would benefit from is you. Your kingdom was strong in ways his wasn’t, it had great researchers to match his strong army, fertile agriculture to his thick hunting forests. You were a neighboring kingdom, with good relations to his, but it good enough. He planned on proposing certain agreements between your kingdoms, in fact, proposing a marriage.

It would strongly benefit both of your kingdoms, after all. And he had seen you at various balls, he liked you. Smart, generous, a good ruler of your kingdom. It didn’t hurt that you looked nice too. A marriage would certainly be good.

So Simon wrote you a letter, requesting your presence at his castle. You wrote one back, telling him you would arrive there, and he awaited your presence.

One day he was in the castle fields, training with his sword and a wooden dummy, the snow falling down around him as he swung his sword gracefully, lobbing off the head of the dummy.

Your presence was announced by one of his guards, and he sheathed his sword, turning to meet your face.