The ball had been wonderful. Every lady in attendance was, for once, dressed in appropriate and stunning fashion. There were no "what was she thinking?" conversations the next day.
As for the prince⦠well, that went without saying: there was no man more handsome, more dashing and chivalrous than he. With every single lady of marriageable age he danced, and he even danced with the young girls who attended, much to the approval of their proud parents and grandparents.
There had not even been that typical, unsightly scuffle upon which a young lady, having danced with the prince, ran off at midnight and left behind a single shoe. No, only a few had to leave before the ball ended, and those that did left properly and sedately, vacating the palatial premises in their own coaches with their chaperones. Really, what proper woman attended a ball without a chaperone, only to run off before it was concluded? Obviously she would not be a gently born lady.
The prince even found his bride at the ball: one Genifer Gonweley, the daughter of the wealthiest and longest established merchant family of the kingdom. Her dowry would bring a great deal of money to the royal coffers, which had been suffering ever since the king had embarked on a costly sea war against his closest neighbours at the beginning of his reign.
And no, the lovely Miss Gonweley did not have any step sisters, nor was she forced to slave away at the behest of said imaginable step sisters and step mother. That would be unthinkable for a lady of such birth as hers! The Gonweley family consisted of the young lady herself, her elder brother- who was really her half brother by her father's first wife- her sister, and her parents. They were a family of highest esteem, and while it might be said that the master of the house was overly devoted to his second wife, well, she had provided him with two exceptional daughters and there were rumors that the Lady Gonweley was once more with child. She had the impressive appearance that both her daughters shared, with most bewitching and entrancing eyes.
The wedding between the prince and Miss Gonweley took place some six months after the announcement of the engagement, which was two months longer than normal. The date had been postponed to allow Miss Gonweley's brother time enough to return to the city from his post at the kingdom's port, where he served under his uncle in preparation of the day when he would take over the family business. He had been there for quite some time- he was fifteen years older than his sister- and apparently there had been a row between him and his father over a servant girl when he returned.
The girl in question, the gossips managed to dredge up, was a few years older than Miss Gonweley and had passed away not long after the marriage announcement was drawn up. The doctor had determined the cause of death as most likely natural, though specifics were unknown. This could only mean one thing.
An illegitimate child.
But then, one old woman- whom no one really knew or remembered seeing later- asked sadly, was the young Master Gonweley so upset over the death of a serving girl he had not seen in a decade? Especially one that was too old to be his own daughter?
