The day had finally come. Prince Roderic's birthday. Guests from all over the continent had come to grace the occasion seeing as he was the first son of the king of the second most powerful kingdom.
He was putting on a purple regal attire, exuding an air of arrogance as he went about greeting and welcoming guests.
They all wished him happy birthday while also trying to curry favour with who they thought was going to be the next king of Varghelm. Queen Elswyth sat on her throne smiling proudly as she also thought her son was going to be the crown prince.
The herald soon announced the arrival of the king and everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stood, including the queen.
The king walked through the parted crowd and they all bowed to him. He got to his throne and faced the crowd.
"Thank you all for coming to this joyous occasion to celebrate with us as my son marks his twenty-eighth birthday. There's enough food and drinks to go round so enjoy yourselves"
The crowd applauded as the king sat. By his left was Queen Elswyth's throne and an empty throne by his right for the crown prince. While lower from the dais, smaller thrones were placed for the princesses and their sons.
The maids started serving the guests and everyone ate and drank as they mingled.
"You know, word is that the king plans to announce prince Roderic as the crown prince tonight," a guest said to the person beside him.
"Really? In that case, I better get into his good graces"
Roderic who was not far from them heard this and smirked. Of course he would be announced as the crown prince on his birthday. He was the first prince after all.
Somehow, the rumour had spread round the ball room and you could clearly see all the guests clustering around Roderic and ignoring the other princes. Though a few still hovered around his brothers hoping to get to him through them.
The other princes were pissed when they noticed this. Only Lucien didn't seem bothered by what was going on.
Queen Elswyth seeing this, couldn't help but feel smug as she gazes down at the other wives of the king. Serilda and Morwenna glared at her while Kaela was talking to a maid, who so happened to be Liora.
'Tch,' Elswyth thought to herself, 'what is she feeling like anyway? Pretending not to be bothered by the lack of attention her son was receiving. It doesn't matter anyway. She's still below me and always will be'
The king also noticed what had happened and saw the look in his first wife's eyes and the scowl on her face and knew what she was thinking but didn't comment on it.
Roderic felt on top of the world as attention was showered on him. Attention neither him nor his brothers had ever gotten from their father. He gazed up at him as if trying to tell him that he would make a great king. King Edrin just stared at him till the intensity of his gaze made Roderic look away.
Well into the night, when the cheerfulness of the guests were already dwindling—overcome by exhaustion—the king hit his spoon against his champagne glass and everyone turned to him.
He stood and cleared his throat before speaking.
"I thank you all once again. As you've all probably heard, apart from celebrating my son's birthday today, I would also be announcing who will be next in line to the throne. The crown prince"
Everyone started murmuring with one another as they had already begun to doubt if he truly would when it started getting dark outside. But it didn't take long for the murmurs to die down and the king continued.
"This is a moment the entire kingdom of Varghelm has been waiting for and I would delay no longer. The crown prince will be..."
Everyone held their breath. Well, everyone except for Queen Elswyth and her son who smiled triumphantly as Roderic already started making his way to the front of the ballroom from where he had previously been.
"Prince Lucien. My son with princess Kaela"
...
Dead silence.
The silence was so thick you could practically cut through it.
Everyone was utterly shocked. Because not only had the king missed the first prince, he had completely missed all the sons from the queen, his first wife. Announcing the youngest prince as the crown prince.
This had never been heard of before.
"Step forward, prince Lucien"
A moment passed, then two, as Lucien stayed glued to where he stood.
He was probably dreaming. He was almost certain of it. Or he had hit his head and he was now hallucinating because there was no way in hell, heaven or earth that his father, the king, had just announced him as next to the throne.
"Lucien?" the king called and snapped Lucien out of his thoughts.
He looked around at everyone as he made his way towards his father. Everyone wore a look of stupefaction he was certain had been on his face a minute ago. The Queen's face was contorted with fury while Roderic and all the other princes glared at him with hatred. But you could feel Roderic's hatred pouring out of him in waves. The other princesses had a smirk on their faces as they stared at the queen. His mother...
His mother had a radiant smile on hers. When their eyes met, she blew a kiss to him, wishing him the best.
Lucien soon stood before his father, before dropping on one knee.
"Lucien, eighth prince of Varghelm, I—by the power invested in me as king of Varghelm—hereby announce you as the crown prince and next in line to the throne of Varghelm. You may rise"
Lucien stood and commotion broke out as everyone started talking at once not bothering to lower their voices in front of the king.
Lucien turned towards them as the king called out, "I present to you, the next king of Varghelm"
Lucien could feel a headache coming on as the stares of everyone bored into him. The stares of confusion and surprise from the guests and those of hatred from his 'family'.
His whole life had just been turned upside down and there was nothing he could do about it.