A once upon a time story? No. That's not my life. Fairy tales should stay in books and dreams. My story hasn't even begun, yet it feels like the chapters are already written, the ink dry. There is no mate, no prince charming waiting for me. Only eyes thousands of them watching, judging. The lineage must continue. The honor of the family must remain untarnished. Scandal is forbidden.
We live in a world of luxury, a life many would kill for. And yet… a life of golden cages is still a cage. I've been trained ,taught how to speak, how to stand, how to smile at the world, how to show respect where respect is demanded. A man, especially a royal one, must never falter. He must never slip. And I… I must obey.
Being the last born, even with two older siblings, isn't easy. It shouldn't be. But nothing changes the fact that I am royal. Those bodyguards who shadowed us as children made friendships impossible. Royalty can only mingle with royalty. To hell with what I want.
And so I live, performing, smiling, bending to invisible rules, while the world admires, idolizes, envies. They don't see the cage. They only see the crown.
Sometimes, when no one is watching, I let myself imagine what it would be like to choose. To speak freely. To move without eyes following my every step. To fall for someone who loves me, not the title I carry. But such thoughts are dangerous. Dangerous and forbidden. And so I lock them away, along with the pieces of myself that no one will ever see.
The world believes a prince's life is perfect. They envy it, aspire to it, dream about it. They don't know it is a performance, a play staged in golden halls. And yet, even behind the finest tapestries and the tallest walls, I feel the same ache, the same hunger, as any other human being.
I am royal. And I am trapped