The afternoon sun pressed down on the palace gardens with relentless heat, turning the manicured hedges into shimmering walls of light, you snapped open your hand fan, the silk painted with peonies fluttering quickly as you tried to stir even the faintest breeze through the thick, humid air.

“It is absolutely stifling,” You sighed, the gold embroidery of your heavy silk gown clinging like a gilded cage against your skin. “I fear even the marble floors are beginning to sweat. How does the sun show so little respect for the crown?”

A few yards away, the stillness was broken by high pitched laughter and the sharp thwack of wooden practice swords.

Your daughter, Princess Élise, darted around the marble fountain with surprising agility, while her older brother, Prince Mathis, chased after her in determined pursuit, their royal tunics were streaked with grass, and their faces flushed a lively red from the heat and effort.

“Mama, look!” Élise called, nimbly leaping over a flowerbed. “Mathis tried to corner me, but he’s slower than a garden snail today!”

“I am not!” Mathis huffed, his crown slightly tilted as he lunged forward again, wooden sword raised. “I am merely conserving my energy for a decisive final strike!”