In the age of royalty, castles, and knights in shining armor, there was once a royal family consisting of a king, a queen, three princes, and one princess. The once-warring kingdom of Kimoreia was finally at peace once more, after many years of war. Having lost many brave soldiers and knights in the war, the king spent ten years gathering boys from the local villages once they had reached the age of fifteen.
The village boys were then well-trained in the art of swordplay and defense. Not wishing to take all of the sons and husbands in his kingdom from their families, the king decreed that joining the Royal Guard was not mandatory, yet nearly all men of age in the kingdom volunteered. Overwhelmed by the amount of young men, only a handful of the highest-ranking knights were chosen for shifts in the palace.
In the history of the Royal Guard of Kimoreia, there were only two who had bested every warrior in the kingdom but each other, their own duels ending in draws. These two knights were a pair of brothers from the poorest village in Kimoreia, Lukas and Emil Bondevik. Pledging to serve the Kingdom of Kimoreia until their last breaths, Lukas and Emil were allowed to live in the palace with the royal family, a privilege known only to them.
Though treated like royalty by the lower-ranking officers and guards, the brothers were to never forget their humble beginnings. After all, they were always grimly reminded of the fact that no matter their rank, they would never be anything but mere servants to those with whom they shared a home. And as servants, they could never love their masters.