Chapter Text
The kingdom of Kagamania was a prosperous, and rather advanced kingdom for the time, the kingdom was notably ruled by the elven queen, queen Lily Kagamine. The two heirs to the throne were Prince Len Kagamine and Princess Rin Kagamine. Despite being the older of the two, Len was not the heir to the throne due to one setback. He was born without any magic, no spells nor enchantments to his name. That made his younger half sister, Rin, more favourable for the throne since she seemed to have inherited all of their mothers magical abilities.
Len was not like his mother, sister nor step-father Al, he wasn’t a pure elf like them. His birth father was a human. He couldn’t remember his face, or name. His mother never liked to bring him up either, and after his father died he remembered Al coming into their lives. He could tell his step-father didn’t care much for him, prioritizing his own daughter over the halfling, but his mother seemed to eventually forget he was in the picture too, after Rin discovered her magical abilities the whole kingdom seemed to celebrate and rejoice, his mother always favoured Rin. Probably because she had magic. Or because she wasn’t a halfling. Even so, it caused Len to envy her, he knew he shouldn’t, she was born right and he wasn’t. But it wasn’t fair! He never asked to be born this way, he just wanted to be acknowledged like his sister. He wished people wouldn’t look at him as if he were a stain on the royal family. He just wished he could disappear.
Living as an outcast in your own family was like hell, despite this he found solace in the royal library, researching different species that roamed the lands, the different laws they followed, it was all so fascinating to him. Though there was one section of the books that always felt off. The changeling sections of all the magical encyclopedias were always rather vague, only describing them as untrustworthy, and cruel, changelings were not allowed in the kingdom, nor in most other lands, they were seen as too dangerous to be kept around. Even his parents and other royal advisors had a strong distaste for the species, his entire childhood he and his sister were always warned about how dangerous changelings were, and how they shouldn’t be allowed near the kingdom. Needless to say, he was rather wary of the species as a whole.
It was just another mundane day, he was once again studying in the library's study when a maid approached him.
“Your highness…” the maid softly called, Len glanced up at her, diverting his attention from the book in front of him, “...the king and queen request your presence”.
Her words made him tense up, his parents tended to dismiss him whenever he was in their presence, so why now? What could they possibly be requesting him for? He closes the book, slowly standing up.
“I see…tell them I shall be arriving soon,” he replies, his tone neutral despite the feeling of dread clawing at his gut. The maid nods in response before hurrying off to the royal headquarters. The feeling of dread seemed to intensify as he approached the room. Despite this he made his best attempt to seem as neutral as possible, as to not offend his parents. As he entered the throne room he was greeted by his mother and step father looking down at him, he felt as if he were being scrutinized by their gaze. Despite their cold looks, he made sure to keep his head down, to not step out of place.
“You’re getting married.” his mother finally said, her tone as cold as ever
“What!?” he immediately exclaimed back, his mask of neutrality shattering as soon as he heard her words.
“To the princess of Florancia, in the north.” she continued, not phased by his shock
“Florancia!? That's miles away! Not to mention, I don’t even know-”
His mother cut him off before he could even finish, “That is not our problem Len. You will marry her and it is final.”
Were they seriously sending him off to a kingdom that was almost on the other side of the country!? They couldn’t have made it clearer to Len that they were merely just trying to get rid of him, it made his blood boil, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it, no matter how hard he tried.
“...Why…why do I need to be-”
She cut him off again, “You are almost 18, and the kingdom of Florancia is one of our allies. We are merely just strengthening our alliance with them”
“By getting rid of me.” he muttered quietly, unfortunately not quietly enough since his step-father seemed to have heard him.
“Don’t start acting like a child about this. The decision is final and you will make everyone's lives easier if you just comply.” he scolded
“...”
Later that night, he stared out the window, the feeling of helplessness overwhelming him. Looking out at the forest, he attempted to identify the different plant species to distract himself from his fate of being married off to a random kingdom far from home, though, could he really call this kingdom his home? He had been shunned by his family after his sister was born, viewed as an inconvenience rather than an heir to the throne, and now? Now he was just being sent away to become some other kingdom's problem. So his presence could no longer bring shame to the royal image.
He could barely see the flora from here, at least not properly enough to identify the species properly, not like he would sneak out to the forest to look at the plants, that would be absurd!...Despite the absurdity of sneaking out to look at plants, he found the concept more and more appealing, the thought of getting away from everything, even if it were for a few hours, at this point he yearned for the outside. How would he even sneak out though? The halls were constantly patrolled by guards, and it's not like he could use any magic to just make himself invisible or something. Unless… he noticed a tree that grew near the outside of the castle's wall, it was close enough to where if he tried he could probably climb onto it and get out, but remembering less than admirable athletics skills he hesitated. Looking back into his room he saw his lamp and old cloak next to it, it had belonged to his father, at least, that's what his mother said. He stared at the cloak a little longer before taking a deep breath, grabbing the cloak and the lamp. He opened the castle's window, as wide as possible, before balancing himself on the windowsill, carefully he began to inch himself closer and closer towards the tree. A strong gust of wind almost caused him to completely lose his balance, but he thankfully grabbed a nearby branch of the tree before he did. He continued to hesitate, until he heard voices from below approaching, he knew if he didn’t act fast he’d be in huge trouble, so he took a leap of faith, managing to land on a sturdy branch of the tree.
Finally reaching the other side of the wall with a soft thud, he did it. He let out a loud sigh of relief, before checking his surroundings hastily to make sure no one followed him, once he was sure he was in the clear he hurried into the forest.