Chapter Text
The Royal family was always adored by their subjects, even long before their beloved princess was born. When it was announced that the queen was pregnant with her first child, prophecy from a witch made its way through the entire kingdom and eventually landed itself at the palace’s doorstep. The prophecy? A dashing young man will be born, and he will conquer every single nearby kingdom until they are forced to sail the seas to find more land. When it was announced that the baby was a girl, things got a little heated in the city. And by heated I mean they burnt the witch at the stake. Poor thing.
Nevertheless, the kingdom welcomed their beautiful baby girl gleefully. Since the queen almost died during childbirth and the king was very opposed to getting a mistress pregnant, the only option was that a prince from another kingdom would marry the princess and the two would become king and queen. Their kingdom is an especially powerful one, you see, so it was only natural that kingdoms from around the world would be offering up their young men for marriage. From the ripe age of 4 months old, our dearest princess would get a new marriage proposal every week. Her father, the king, took pride in turning every single one down. Over the years, this made quite a few kingdoms and their princes quite angry. At the very beginning of May, just 2 months before the princess turned 18, a new proposal reached their palace. This proposal was unlike any other the royal family has ever gotten, in fact it was not a proposal at all. It was a threat. Inside this letter delicately addressed to the King and Queen is as follows;
“Dearest King and Queen Kusanagi,
My thoughts and prayers. How really have you been? My kingdom has being flourishing under my newly found leadership, though I assume you’ve heard tales all about me now. My real purpose in writing this letter should be no surprise to you; I would like your daughter’s hand in marriage. But I will not take no for an answer like these other bumbling oafs. I will have Nene Kusanagi as my wife and my Queen before the end of the month of July. My wife will come join me in my palace, and we will rule my kingdom together. She will have nothing to do with you any longer, not when I am through. My darling should never have to worry about lowly peasants like you, no, she’s far too beautiful.
If my wife is not waiting in her veil at my castle gate on her 18th birthday, you and your kingdom will be slaughtered. All I ask for is your daughter. A woman is not of much value. This is not a difficult decision.
Best regards,
King Heimlich (unrelated to the maneuver)”
Now, our gracious king, being the loving father he is, did not take this man seriously. He replied to King Heimlich (unrelated to the maneuver) quite fast, but his response was not to the strange king’s liking. His response was short and sweet and went as follows;
“Dearest King Heimlich,
No thank you.
Best regards,
King Kusanagi”
Our king is quite the troll.
This rejection deeply upset King Heimlich (I will not say it again) and instead of waiting around for her 18th birthday, he formulated a plan to kidnap our dearest and force her to become his wife. He must have forgot somewhere along the road that his kingdom was the least threatening of them all, with a militia consisting of 11 homeless peasants he picked off of the streets. In his delusional love for the sweet princess, he greatly overestimated what he would be able to achieve, and set a plan in motion to break into the castle and kidnap our Nene.
Once he finalized his plan, him and his puny militia sprung into action. On the night of May 15th, they climbed the castle walls and were immediately stopped by the royal guard. With that, King Heimlich was no longer a king, and instead was a new prisoner in the dungeon. Poor thing.
Even though the strange king’s attempt was entirely in vain, it got King Kusanagi thinking that maybe he should get his daughter her own personal guard. With her rapidly nearing the age of 18, she would have to participate in a lot more royal events, meaning many more people and many more ways that his daughter could get hurt. It would also be nice to get her accustomed to speaking to new people, seeing as she’s never done that in her life.
With this thought, King Kusanagi started his search for a suitable guard for his daughter.
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The Aoyagi family had always been quite prestigious. The famous classical musician and composer Harumichi Aoyagi was the head of the family. A tight knit and straight-laced man, he raised his children to be the same way. With respect for his father but no regard for classical music, his youngest son Toya would sneak out of the house while his father was away to go play with the low class kids and watch them sing. This started when Toya was a very young boy, but his father surprisingly never found out about it. That is, until he came home early one day to see his wife cooking dinner happily and his son nowhere to be seen. Upon questioning, his wife said she heard a window creak but assumed that their son wanted a breath of fresh air. A swift slap across the face may or may not have followed. (i do not support domestic abuse)
When Toya returned home, a swift slap across the face may or may not have followed. (i swear i do not support domestic abuse)
For his rebellious and downright repulsive behavior, Harumichi enrolled his son into the Royal Guard to teach him a lesson. Something he would never think possible would soon unfold, leaving him to think that maybe disowning him would have been a better choice.
Toya becomes the princess’s royal knight.