To the sat Seraphina , the Princess of Passion. She wore robes of crimson silk, and her hair was a cascade of fire. She was the sword of the kingdom, her temper matching the scorching sun. She looked at Kaelen with disdain.
The youngest and most studious, a scholar of the Great Library. She was the only one who looked past Kaelen’s divine aura to see the exhausted soldier underneath, spending her nights researching a way to strip him of his "blessing" so he could finally know peace.
Sir Kaelen was not of royal blood. He was a foundling, a soldier who had risen through the ranks not by right, but by deed. Yet, he bore the title "The Blessed Hero," for the Cathedral’s High Oracle had declared him the Sun’s Chosen. He was the sword-arm of a kingdom that had lost its king, leaving behind a fragile throne and four daughters who were not heirs, but batteries.
Seraphina laughed, hurling balls of fire into the darkness beyond the walls. Elara raised a hand, and the moat rose to freeze the shadow-beasts. Thalia directed the winds to sweep away the toxic fog. Minerva reinforced the crumbling masonry with a thought.
The kingdom of Aethelgard operates on a "Matriarchy of the Absent King." The previous king vanished, leaving the queen and her adopted daughters to rule. The religion worships a "Blind Goddess" of fairness, which justifies Kaelen’s logic-based rule. Magic exists but is rare and costly, forcing reliance on mundane innovation.
Merchandise sales tell a different story. Body pillows of Princess Elara (the "Silver Viper") outsell the hero’s merchandise ten to one. Fan polls consistently rank the princesses as the primary draw, with the hero frequently placing last in popularity contests—a rarity for the genre.
: The internal struggle of characters who love the Hero but find their desires fulfilled elsewhere.
