Chapter 26: The Castle on the Hilltop

The castle stood out against the azure sky. It stood there as though summoned from a child's storybook. It was ideal. Leo used to envision unicorns in the courtyard as a kid, since why not if those towers might exist? Every stone was even and square as if the builders were obsessed with perfection and genuinely cared about what they created. They were built to protect a community, reverberate with laughter, and provide the shelter they required for millennia.

Leo looked up at the clear blue sky. The beauty and the splendor of the castle didn't match what he was feeling inside. Clad in a modest golf shirt, blue blazer and blue jeans, he felt he was ready to meet the uninvited, and certainly not welcomed palace guests tonight. He stomped his Air Jordan 10 OVOs on the well-manicured lawns of the palace. His father was going to have a fit. How dare he not wear a full formal attire to meet his betrothed and the Duke.