p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"strongemChapter I - Prologue/em/strong/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Akane," he announced, lowering himself to his knees, "you are truly the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I have known you my whole life and have fallen in love with you over, and over, and over, for as long as I can remember. You will be an excellent queen, ruling beside me with the utmost grace and poise. My princess, with all my heart and soul, I ask for your hand in marriage."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Princess Akane gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth, trembling in astonishment. Tears welled up in her glassy eyes, seeming so real as if the very act of crying had not been rehearsed a thousand times./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Oh, oh my darling Yuuichirou... of course, I will!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She flew into his arms, embracing him with a tender kiss on his lips. All around them, other royal families with their sons and daughters brought their hands together in applause. They raised their glasses, cheering as he spun Akane around, enveloping her in a waltz while gorgeous music played in the background. They finally proclaimed it - they were to be married./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Prince Yuuichirou twirled her with grace, careful not to step on her toes. He resisted the urge to cringe at his overly dramatic proposal, but he knew it was all for the notoriety. Tears streamed down his face, but he kept a broad smile as they danced, knowing that if he stopped, his true feelings would reveal /His tears would tell how much of a lie this all was, that he wasn't crying out of love for his betrothed./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"He was crying out of love for the one he could not have./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'It's all a lie!' He begged to cry out. 'We are but marionette dolls forced to dance by our families' cruel fingers of fate. Believe us, and set us free! Cut our strings, let us go!'br /But he saw Crowley and his father, their eyes glowing dangerously in the light, and he knew he had to keep his mouth shut./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"As he brought Akane into his arms once more, he whispered,br /"I'm sorry."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"And she stared up into his wide eyes, smiling gently and caressing his /"I'm sorry, too."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Nobody noticed his tears. Nobody ever did./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"As the waltz ended, they stood up as he kissed her hand, desperately wishing it was the hand of another, the hand of the one he loved more than anyone else in the world./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Mikaela..." he cried softly into her palm, "for you, I am sorry most of all."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Akane," he announced, lowering himself to his knees, "you are truly the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I have known you my whole life and have fallen in love with you over, and over, and over, for as long as I can remember. You will be an excellent queen, ruling beside me with the utmost grace and poise. My princess, with all my heart and soul, I ask for your hand in marriage."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Princess Akane gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth, trembling in astonishment. Tears welled up in her glassy eyes, seeming so real as if the very act of crying had not been rehearsed a thousand times./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Oh, oh my darling Yuuichirou... of course, I will!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She flew into his arms, embracing him with a tender kiss on his lips. All around them, other royal families with their sons and daughters brought their hands together in applause. They raised their glasses, cheering as he spun Akane around, enveloping her in a waltz while gorgeous music played in the background. They finally proclaimed it - they were to be married./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Prince Yuuichirou twirled her with grace, careful not to step on her toes. He resisted the urge to cringe at his overly dramatic proposal, but he knew it was all for the notoriety. Tears streamed down his face, but he kept a broad smile as they danced, knowing that if he stopped, his true feelings would reveal /His tears would tell how much of a lie this all was, that he wasn't crying out of love for his betrothed./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"He was crying out of love for the one he could not have./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'It's all a lie!' He begged to cry out. 'We are but marionette dolls forced to dance by our families' cruel fingers of fate. Believe us, and set us free! Cut our strings, let us go!'br /But he saw Crowley and his father, their eyes glowing dangerously in the light, and he knew he had to keep his mouth shut./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"As he brought Akane into his arms once more, he whispered,br /"I'm sorry."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"And she stared up into his wide eyes, smiling gently and caressing his /"I'm sorry, too."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Nobody noticed his tears. Nobody ever did./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"As the waltz ended, they stood up as he kissed her hand, desperately wishing it was the hand of another, the hand of the one he loved more than anyone else in the world./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Mikaela..." he cried softly into her palm, "for you, I am sorry most of all."/p