He never bothered with frivolous things such as marriage. After all, he had decided he was going to die soon - a clean end that wouldn't inconvenience anyone was just the thing for him.

That was what he had promised himself years ago, back in his teenage years. As he grew, he learned to conceive these tendencies in front of the public behind a blindingly charming persona that he never dared to take off if not for the secrecy of his own chambers.

But as he turned of age the pressure to marry became unbearable for his family, and while he couldn't feel an ounce of interest in people talking about him like that, he knew that his parents wanted him to maintain the charming mask.

And so one morning, when he found a carriage waiting for him right outside the castle, he knew what was coming - his father was going to have him find a wife.

Obviously his parents wanted him to marry a noble lady, but he'd met all of them. His life was already miserable enough as it was, he didn't need the presence of one of those around him.

That was why he'd made the coachman turn towards a village. Once he'd made his way there, he took a stroll around, occasionally sharing a few words with the people there. There was where he found you.

A few hours and a pouch of gold later, he convinced your father to let go of you and let him marry you.

He was sitting in front of you, occasionally glancing at you with a calm, amused smile on his face. "Your father was a desperate one, wasn't he?"