Chapter Text
Long ago, there lived a Crown Prince who was involved not in politics, but in heroism.
Even when he was young the people would often hear tales of how the Crown Prince had snuck out yet again to aid beggars or stop petty crimes. He was the darling of the Xianle kingdom, and his reputation spread far beyond too.
Though the kingdom of Xianle was tense with disputes from different peoples it had absorbed, this righteous Crown Prince gave some peace to the land. He was, after all, beloved by all and endlessly doted upon by his parents, the one and only Flower Crowned Prince.
To him, it did not matter if you were of pure Xianle blood or simply another kingdom that had been overtaken. All were equal, all were his people. He defended those of Yong’an ancestry when fights were provoked by strong lingering cultural differences. He advocated for the displaced Xue Yu people’s right to own land.
The people would often say: “The Crown Prince will become a great ruler in the future, his renown will echo through history.” And so at the age of twenty, a great push was made to finally have him wed so he could take the throne.
However, the Crown Prince wasn’t interested in the imperial power that was his birthright nor in marriage in the least. And so he declared, much to the shock of the kingdom: “I will not wed. I dare not take on the duty of a husband when my duty first and foremost is to the common people!”
This notion was a very pretty one, but also very naive.
The knowledge that the Crown Prince didn’t intend to marry shook the kingdom and spread doubt in the hearts of the people. This doubt was easy to take advantage of, widening the already present cracks of tension in the kingdom and giving better footing to those who wished for change.
Perhaps if he had known, the Prince would have taken back his words. However, by the time he saw the signs enough to try to take back the catalyst, it was too late. It had, after all, been a conflict many generations in the making.
The Yong’an rebellion had begun. The Xianle royal family was overthrown and cast out.
Though their sentencing was death, there were rumors the royal family had escaped and was living still, always on the run or perhaps settled in another kingdom. Regardless, they didn’t dare come back.
Of course, no shift of power is without some turbulence. When Yong’an revolted and took power, they also inherited all the problems of the previous rule. Tensions between those of Xianle ancestry and Yong’an ancestry only became worse. What was more, the Xue Yu people, previously kept too poor and beaten down to fight, had begun to gain strength and become quite a nuisance. It didn’t help that some people, even Yong’an people, still held the belief the lost Crown Prince would be better suited to the throne.
So it was that just over a decade after Yong’an had taken power, a coup was staged and the lost Crown Prince was restored to his birthright.
Yet the old worries were not gone. The former Crown Prince, now King had managed to pacify the Xianle and Yong’an disputes to an extent, but the previous rule had been locked in a stalemate with the Xue Yu people that could turn deadly any day. Furthermore, there were still those with concerns about the fact the King was still unwed and without heirs.
And so the King proposed a solution: a marriage for peace between someone of importance to the Xue Yu and the King himself.