1 prologue : 1
The daughter of Count Storm, Camilla Storm, is a villain.
The Second Prince of the Kingdom of Sonnenlicht, Julian, shared a love that transcended social status with a daughter of a baron named Liselotte Ende. A fairytale romance that lit the passions of the kingdom, still fresh in the minds of many.
The country had nothing but goodwill for the couple that overcame many hardships. Even now, a day doesn't go by where their love story isn't the topic on everybody's lips.
And the person who played an all too important role in this story was Camilla Storm.
Camilla, who too loved Prince Julian, did everything she could to interfere with the budding couple, causing them no end of trouble. She harboured a fit of deep jealousy for Liselotte, the Prince's lover, tormenting and harassing her mercilessly.
Her wicked deeds are too numerous to quote.
Camilla spread a vicious rumour about Liselotte through high society.
"Liselotte only pursues Prince Julian to snatch royal power for herself. She is a harlot as well, slipping into bed with a new man every night."
She spread these lies as if they were gospel.
Camilla sought to entrap Liselotte using her power and isolating her in aristocratic circles.
She even went so far as to hire thugs to waylay and attack Liselotte. Fortunately, Prince Julian had managed to intervene just in time to save her, but Liselotte feinted from shock and didn't awaken for several days.
Using the power of her family, Camilla attempted to force an engagement between herself and Prince Julian. Due to Liselotte's scandalous activities, she wasn't fit for the royal family. Presenting herself to be a just an innocent person, she managed to win over not just the majority of nobles and the First Prince Eckhart, but also the King himself. Her engagement to the Prince seemed set in stone.
But, despite all that, Prince Julian and Liselotte stayed true to one another.
At the very moment that Prince Julian and Camilla's engagement was to be made official, Prince Julian revealed all of Camilla's crimes for everyone to hear.
The horrifying rumours Camilla had started about Liselotte, were in fact only true about Camilla herself.
Despite pretending to be the picture of innocence, she was, in fact, a wretched and vile woman.
In her quest to torment Liselotte to no end, she had hired ruffians to assault her, an unforgivable and inhuman atrocity.
His Majesty, the King, finally saw Camilla for what she truly was, annulling her engagement to Prince Julian. Instead, he accepted Liselotte as Prince Julian's true fiancée.
On the other hand, Camilla earned only the fury of the royal family for having tormented the innocent Liselotte to such extremes. After even her father, Count Storm, abandoned Camilla, she was sentenced to be banished from the country with naught but the clothes on her back.
However, Liselotte had a gentle heart and bore no grudge towards Camilla.
"We are two people who share the same love, I can truly understand Camilla's feelings."
Impressed by Liselotte's magnanimous act, Prince Julian pardoned Camilla from exile.
Instead, for her many crimes, the Prince imposed a new punishment on Camilla.
She will marry whomever the Prince chose for her and she was never again to appear before the two of them.
The fiancée the Prince chose for Camilla was Duke Alois Montchat.
A branch family of the royal line, a prestigious lineage that has ruled the Duchy of Mohnton in the north of the kingdom for generations, a perfectly suited marriage for a member of Count Storm's house. Rather, the Count's house had more to gain.
However, this was still a punishment. Despite Alois Montchat's high status, he was not a well thought of man.
In the gossip of high society, he was routinely referred to as 'The Toad of the Swamp'.
The swamp referred to the geography of the Duchy of Mohnton, which was covered in marshes and wetlands. The 'toad' part referred to the figure Duke Montchat cut.
A grotesquely fat body. His skin was a hive of pimples and acne, covering his pudgy and ugly face, giving him the likeness of a disgusting toad. All of that alongside the fact that his huge body caused him to sweat profusely, giving off an awful smell, was the origin of his name.
He had a withdrawn and gloomy personality, hardly ever talking with anyone. It was only for the most pompous of royal occasions that he crawled out of his swamp to visit the capital. And even then, everyone kept their distance.
From afar, you could still see just how freakish he truly was. His stomach was three times the breadth of a regular man. His gray hair was always damp and slimy, as if he had just emerged from a bog. Those two eyes that peeked between his locks of hair were like a reptile's, cold and unfeeling. His red eyes retained deep magical power and no one would meet his gaze, for fear of falling under his curse.
That Duke Montchat will turn twenty-three this year. It was about the time in his life where he should consider marriage. But just which unfortunate soul in polite society would ever deign to marry such a man? He was another horror story spoken of in hushed whispers by the daughters of nobility, akin to ghosts that haunted the royal palace.
In short, he was treated as a source of trouble.
So, it was with welcome relief that people celebrated Prince Julian's decision.
There was no noblewoman who wished to marry the gloomy and unsightly Duke Montchat. It seemed an appropriate fate for Camilla, a villain who had callously wielded her family's power to put Liselotte through all sorts of ordeals.
The newspapers of the kingdom ran with the conclusion of the beautiful love story of the royal couple, the extra editions in the hands of everyone in the capital.
