Yvonne fled to her chambers in a state of utter disgust.

"That wretched bastard," she hissed as she furtively wiped her mouth. "He kissed me! Me! I shouldn\'t have approached him, I really shouldn\'t have."

She babbled on as she ran through the lit corridors, her face crumpled up with unmistakable abhorrence.

In truth, this had been her first kiss. It made her wonder why King Irvin even married her if not for lustful desires. She hadn\'t always been this pretty. Before her sudden marriage to King Irvin, she had been a student at a public academy which she paid for herself by working away at a local tea shop. The King had made it his own duty to visit all academies in person as a part of some campaign he had come up with, to increase the standard of public academies.

It was then that she had met him for the first time, and the King had sensed some sort of cleverness and intellectuality in Yvonne, which far surpassed her peers.

Without any prior notice, she suddenly found herself as a part of the King\'s court, where she attended meetings with other scholars and discussed plans to flourish the kingdom of Clatoise.

Of course, despite her unwillingness to carry on, her parents had been overjoyed.

"My girl, what a marvelous fortune you have struck!" her mother told her one day as she caressed her with her gentle fingers. "It is indeed the best thing that has ever happened to us! Oh, what joy! Cheers!"

With this expression of joviality, Yvonne felt unable to reveal her own true feelings about the matter, for it mattered to her parents the most.

Back at the palace, she often found herself indulging in reading from the wide selection of books in the vast Royal library, which had become more popular after Yvonne started her regular visits to it.

Each night, she would bring back a stack of knowledge to her chambers and read all night, till her candle wick drowned in the wax, or her eyelids gave way. Before she knew it, the palace had become her second home. She was more comfortable than she had ever been.

But then came the sudden proposal.

It was a lovely morning, and the flowers were in full bloom. Yvonne had been called to the King\'s office for some reason best known to himself. She had thought it was because he needed her to review some stacked letters or write a report on some matters about the kingdom, like it typically was. But it seemed that King Irvin had other plans in mind.

At 20 years of age, Yvonne received her first marriage proposal from none other than the King of the kingdom she had grown up in. It must sound like a romantic love story to some, but Yvonne, on the other hand, didn\'t think so. She was confused, if not anything else.

Since the king had never shown any sort of romantic interest in her before, nor ever gave any indication to such, she was a mess. His proposal had been short and blunt.

"Marry me," he had said seriously.

Yvonne didn\'t reply for a good moment. But then a priest appeared out of nowhere and the vows were exchanged before the marriage was sealed. All without Yvonne\'s understanding.

"We\'re married now," the king replied afterwards, smiling.

"What?" Yvonne whispered, looking up, shocked.

"I\'ve taken you as my mistress. You may go now."

Just like that, she had been kicked out of the king\'s office and she walked away, dazed. What had even happened? She wondered even now as she entered her chambers and fell over her bed, the tingling feeling never leaving her lips.

"The bastard kissed me..." she muttered and then turned around, lying lifelessly on her stomach. "I wish I could go back to Clatoise."

Even thinking about it made all the memories of her past flood back. Her time as King Irvin\'s mistress had been the best ever. For some reason, even after the marriage, the King never once showed romantic interest in her. He always kept her by his side as an advisor or solely to receive much needed words of comfort at times of hardship. She had had the freedom of a dove. She had no restrictions and nobody ever insulted her for being a mere mistress and not the queen. But then again, most people knew that Yvonne was not interested in becoming queen.

As Yvonne lay on her bed thinking about the past, she felt a rush of homesickness and she doubled up, wincing. The only reason she had even come to this empire was because the king she held so so close to her heart had so dearly requested her to ensure that Princess Cynthia Amaryll de Klaern survived. That had been his only wish.

Slowly, as she worried over the events of tomorrow, Yvonne felt herself drowse off into a deep sleep.

✿

[At the Gradral Household]

Reynard sat cross-legged on his bed, apparently immersed in his own bubble of thoughts.

"What\'s going on?" Rosa asked as she emerged from Reynard\'s bathroom, her hair wet and dripping water over the floor. For some reason, the showerhead in Rosa\'s room had stopped working, so she had decided to barge in uninvited to her brother\'s bathroom for a quick shower.

"Have you ever gotten this feeling," Reynard muttered as he studied his toe nails, "when you start thinking if your whole existence is a lie itself?"

Rosa scoffed as she walked across him, flicking the towel at his face.

"Shut up," she scoffed, at which Reynard laughed. "Tons of people get adopted all over the world. It\'s not a big deal."

Reynard rolled his eyes. "Of course, not to you. But I\'ve just realized that my whole life has been a lie! I thought I came out of my mother, you know?"

Rosa massaged her nose bridge, her eyes closed. An important sign of frustration.

"Of course, boy, of course you did," she muttered bitterly.

Reynard smiled, becoming sad again. "I wonder who my real parents are. What if they\'re still alive? Hey, Rosa, can you tell me about the day you all found me? I\'d love to know."

Rosa pursed her lips as she looked gravely at her brother. Reynard looked hopefully back at her, and eventually she gave in, sighing.

"Fine," she muttered as she sat across from him on his bed. "Listen closely, since this is the only time I\'m going to tell you about this. Are you ready?"

Reynard nodded eagerly. "As ready as I\'ll ever be."

Rosa started with the clearing of her throat:

"It had been a stormy night. Heavy rain poured down over the Eyress streets like never before. That night..." Rosa paused, trying to remember the vivid memory. "That night, I had a feeling something big was going to happen. I was restless even as we ate dinner, and mother and father scolded me for it a couple times. I was only 14 then. That\'s when we heard a squealing of horses outside and father ran out to check."

"What happened then?" Reynard whispered, mesmerized.

"It seemed as if a little boy had been hit by a carriage. It was you, of course. You were unconscious, but not hurt, and father never blamed the poor carriage driver since it was so dark that night and anyone could\'ve made that mistake. Anyways, he brought you inside for the meantime."

"Father brought a random kid off the street into his house?" Reynard interrupted. "Did he not think I could\'ve been someone else\'s child?"

Rosa nodded. "He did, of course he did. But you were unconscious, and he was worried if it was serious, so he didn\'t waste a moment out in the rain. You were brought in immediately and a physician was called for at once. The physician said you had some blunt injuries because of a high fall, probably, or maybe because of the carriage accident. I remember thinking how strange you looked, then. Purple hair and expensive clothing was not a common sight on the streets of Eyress. Father took all responsibility for you and paid the physician a handsome amount for the check up and complementary medicines. You awoke the next morning in a state of panic."

"I did?"

Rosa nodded. "You started crying first thing in the morning. Mother and Father burst into the room you had slept in and had tried to diffuse your worry, but you had tried to fend them off with those little 6 year old fingers of yours. Once you had finally calmed down, you actually spoke to our parents about the matters of last night."

"What did I say?" Reynard asked, leaning in.

"That," Rosa muttered as she averted her gaze, "I cannot say. At least not yet."

"What!?" Reynard jumped. "Why not?"

"I\'ll tell you everything when the time comes, Reyn," she whispered, reaching forward and squeezing his wrist. "But I cannot say now. My swore to our parents. I\'ll open up about everything when the time is right."

Reynard scoffed furiously, flopping back down on his bed. Was she serious? How could she not let him know of the most significant of details? It frustrated him to no end, since he had been losing sleep over the matter every night since he had found out about his adoption.

Who was he, really? Why had he been randomly running on the streets that night? He couldn\'t have been that dumb, he thought.. No child, no matter how foolish, would\'ve gone out on a cold stormy night. So what had been on his mind?