Chapter Text
There was a lost princess. She had been stolen from her crib by a cruel figure of the night, and every day for 18 years, the king and queen mourned the loss of their child.
The day she was lost, a crack of pain rippled through the kingdom. The people of Corona heard the shrieks of the queen themselves, felt them in their soles. A cloud of grief fell over the kingdom. Denser than air, it sank and rolled through the streets.
The people mourned the princess, but they mourned the days, too, when they could go about their business without the crowns guard shadowing their every footstep, when the ports were open and trade flowed more freely. Before the death penalty was reinstated, and criminals were guilty until proven innocent, and anyone could be a criminal.
The king and queen sat heavy in their sorrow, and while the black blot of it turned them sharp, they spent less of their power on kindness toward their people.
The loss of the princess was a tragedy, indeed.
For 18 years, Corona was a kingdom wrapped around a mystery, a people with a tragedy inside them.
It was also what made them special, for tragedies make for interesting fairy tales.