The Deepest Love

Mauve Palace
Haness, The Kingdom Of Ruven

Soledad took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She had rehearsed for five hours so that her performance tonight was satisfactory. She and a troupe of music and dance artists were invited to the emperor's palace as one of the entertainment events at the matchmaking party for the crown prince.

"Soledad, are you ready?" Ask Vera. Middle aged woman who was Soledad's dance teacher for five years. Soledad nodded slowly while smiling. Soon it was performance time and she had to do a belly dance in front of the palace guests.

Meanwhile, in the ball room of the palace Duke Nicholas stood beside the emperor. He hated being in a place like this, where the scent of women's perfume mixed in one room. He had to endure it because he was the crown prince who would later become emperor.

But the long wait for time that seemed to go slowly ended when the sound of traditional music rhythms sounded in the middle of the room. All eyes were on a female dancer who began to do a belly dance in her signature dress which was very charming.

Every pair of eyes marveled at the divine beauty of a young lady who was called the eternal jewel of this dynasty. The dance is beautiful, in tune with the sound of music played by traditional music players.

Soledad, the girl who becomes the Duke's idol. Nicholas's eyes barely blinked, his heart was beating very fast and when Soledad looked at him who was standing right in the middle of the dance floor, his heart seemed to jump out of his body.

Soledad walks towards him continuing to show a beautiful dance. When they were very close, Soledad wished he could hug Soledad and kiss her.

"You are very beautiful." He said slowly. His eyes keep on Soledad who stays focused on her dance.

"I am very pleased to hear your praise, Your Majesty!"

"I'll wait for you behind the palace, in the labyrinth where we met for the first time."

***


"Looks like maid's daughter is trying to get your attention, Nicky!" Duchess Margareth said. She was not happy to see how Nicholas looked at Disha and it was as if they were whispering to each other.

"I'm impressed you can observe me that far, Grandma!"

"Duke Robert, Duchess Margareth and Duchess Tatiana have arrived at the palace, wouldn't you like to welcome them?"

"Father and mother have had enough, I don't think I have any business here anymore!"

"I plan to set you up with Princess Genevieve, she is the prettiest princess. She is also intelligent and good at riding. I think she will suit you very well. Besides that the empire's relationship with the Kingdom of Evangelia is very good. Their kingdom has very rich reserves of coal so that a political marriage with their kingdom would greatly benefit us."

"I'm sorry Grandma! But I'm not interested in political marriage. It just doesn't suit me!"

"It suits you because you're about to become emperor, Leonidas! You can have hundreds of concubines if you want, but to be in the position of empress, only Princess Genevieve is fittest. I've seen her portraits painted. She a very beautiful young woman with blond hair and bright blue eyes. She would be a perfect match to be side by side with my very handsome and dashing grandson. So, off you go! Greet them!"

The Queen Mother headed towards the door of the ballroom where the Emperor Alexander, Empress Veronika and Princess Eleanor and the palace ministers were gathered to welcome the important imperial guest.

Even though there were dozens of noble daughters present, the queen mother's attention was only focused on the daughter of Evangelia as the closest and most profitable allied kingdom for political marriages.

Nicholas who had been standing in the corner of the room, could feel the resentment that his twin brother harbored. For the first time he felt lucky as the second son who didn't have to do anything he didn't want just for the sake of his status as crown prince.

"I think Soledad is waiting for you!" He said. Prince Leonidas immediately shot him a cynical glance.

"You followed her?"

"I think you might forget that I can read your actions easily. You better stop before mother and father  find out about your forbidden relationship with Disha!"

"Tch, damn it! Forbidden relationship you say? Did you forget that you started the relationship with her first?"

"If I did it might be forgiven because my existence doesn't have any influence. If I had married Disha, I'm sure they wouldn't have cared either."

Prince Lucien's words made Prince Leonidas emotional. He felt very angry every time he recalled the confession that Disha made that night that he had his first kiss and sex with Prince Lucien a year ago.

He hated that he didn't know any of that. Meanwhile at that time he tried to fight for the position of the Faux Clan so that it was equal to the position of other nobles.

With mounting emotions, Nicholas grabbed Lucien by the collar who was looking at him with cold eyes. It pissed him off because to the end, his brother still acted as a hypocrite.

"You hypocrite! In front of everyone you act like a holy scientist who can't possibly do forbidden things! But the truth is, you betrayed your own brother! You know I loved her from the beginning, but you purposely to-"

"You always get everything that I don't get. Power, throne, high respect and position, you get everything. I want only Disha and she wants me too!"

"Damn bastard! Soledad loves me! Listen, Lucien! Don't think you can take her away from me. I will never forgive you, you know that? I don't care if you are my brother or not! I will never forgive you if you touch her again!"

Nicholas released his grip and walked off the dance floor. Even though no one heard their conversation, his rude actions made everyone stare at him.

Three noble young women walked carefully towards Prince Leonidas who was about to leave the room. They wished that one of them could dance with the grand prince whom almost every woman in the world adored.

"Good evening, Your Majesty! Introduce me-"

"Get out of the way! You guys are getting in my way!" He said loudly. The three women were frightened and immediately walked away.

He looked so angry that no one dared to ask him where he was going, while the Duke and Duchess welcomed Evangelia's royal guest.

***