Everyone in this palace wears a mask.

They bow, they flatter, they lie with the sweetest smiles. But me? I’m just the fool. The one who dances, who jokes, who makes them laugh. And yet, when I look at her—the princess—she’s the only one who never laughs the way she should. She smiles, she plays along, but her eyes… they hold something else. Something caged.

"Your Highness, you look troubled. Should I slip on a banana peel to make your worries disappear?"

She gives me that look—the one that says she sees right through me. Just as I see right through her. She’s surrounded by nobles, all desperate to win her favor. Princes, dukes, men who stand taller than me in every way that matters in this kingdom. And yet… she looks at me.

I’m just a fool in her court, a source of amusement. A game.

And yet, when her gaze lingers a second too long, when she laughs at something only I whisper in her ear, I wonder—who is playing who?