Chapter Text
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ.
๐๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ...๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ'๐ด. ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ'๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ค๐ต.
๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด, ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ'๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ. ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ.
TWO YEARS AGO, September 3rd
"Wilhelm?" His mother shook his hand. "Do you hear me?"
"Huh? Yes..." He removed his hand from touching hers. "Yes."
The queen ignored his movement. "Good. So as I was saying, tomorrow, we have invited some of your father's friends here. After the celebration ends of course. So around six,six thirty maybe."
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด' ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด? ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
"I agree. It's plenty of time for photos and... For Wilhelm to meet some of them."
"Oh, but don't worry. Only the important ones..." Kristina tried to smile. "Like... The Hemmings, for example. Or the Larssons."
"The Hemmings look like a nice idea." Ludvig spoke before cutting his steak in half.
"Yes, indeed. And they have a daughter in your age. When did she turn eighteen Ludvig?" Wilhelm closed his eyes the moment he heard the word daughter. He knew. He knew that eventually they would return to this conversation.
"A month ago. Don't you remember? We were invited."
"Oh, right." Kristina wiped her mouth. "You are just five months older than her. It would be good to...show her around."
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐บ.
"And from what I remember she is very pretty. Isn't she the brunette girl with the wild curls?" Highlighted the words brunette and curls. "That was on Paul's son's baptism?"
"Yes. That's her."
"Oh, she is so pretty. And so well behaved."
"And from what I heard, her parents are already looking at suitors."
Wilhelm let down his cutlery with a sound. "What is this conversation exactly?"
"Just a conversation." Kristina raised her shoulders. "I don't see a problem in talking."
"Can I...not come tomorrow?"
"You cannot be serious!" The woman scoffed. "What's wrong with Laura?"
"Nothing is wrong with Laura! Also there's nothing wrong with any of the girls you mention ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ in front of me for the last couple of months."
"Wilhelm! Mind your tongue." Ludvig said strictly.
"Stop blaming us Wilhelm. You are not an infant. You are the crown prince. And one day you will take the throne. So stop blaming us for everything. I told you clearly, what you had with...with that boy, these relationships aren't meant to last. Don't make the same mistakes."
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ.
"I know mom." Wilhelm said, almost defeated. "I'm sorry. I'm just...tired. There's nothing wrong with Laura. I will show her around tomorrow."
"Good." His mother nodded.
"That's how a prince should act."
The blonde didn't say anything, just stood up,defeated. "Now, if you excuse me. Felice is waiting for me."
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ.