"Your Majesty, the delegations from the Southern Kingdoms have just arrived!"
"Your Majesty, the royal kitchen has just notified us of a shortage of eggs as a wild fox killed half the palace's hens last night."
"Your Majesty, have you come to a decision on the border conflict in the Western region yet?"
"Your Majesty-!"
"Your Majesty-!"
"Father-"
"Yes! What is it Lucas?" His Majesty, King Rodrick III, snapped at his youngest and third born son.
"Um, I was wondering if-"
"Wait no, I don't have time to deal with whatever it is that's bothering you this instant right now. If you have nothing to do than worry about your usual idealities, then I need you to take over these tasks."
With a wave, the King's secretary glided over with a couple pieces of parchment, listing all the things that required handling for the fifth princess' wedding to take place that same day.
Lucas skimmed over the list then sighed, looking back up at his father with a dejected face. He wanted nothing more than to protest and shove the parchment back into the secretary's arms, but he could tell from the look on the King's face that he was in a sour mood and did not want to incur his wrath. "I shall complete these tasks with the utmost care, Father."
With that he performed a simple bow, then quickly scuttled away to the sound of his father yelling at the kingdom's border security minister in the background.
Looking at the long list of tasks, Lucas kicked at the air in front of the golden stone wall then continued down the hall. "Who the hell asked him to have so many children anyway, what is this the 4th wedding this year!? Argh... Every time I get saddled with this nonsense at the last moment! It's just a royal wedding for goodness sake, the same political saving face puppetry every single time. Mary isn't even marrying a high ranking figure, just some no name second rate noble that doesn't even have his own castle."
Walking out to the kitchens, a cart with 20 white hens was just arriving along with a palette of what seemed to be hundreds of eggs. Well, it looks like the the egg problem has been resolved. Lucas crossed the first thing off his list, then proceeded to pop into the kitchen to get a look at the goings on.
On the table closest to the entryway, he found a large bowl of icing, whipped and waiting for the cake to be made as the eggs had just arrived. He took a quick peek left and right to make sure no one was looking, then dipped his pinky finger in for the royal taste tax.
"Hey! Unless you're gonna make us a new batch, scram before I see that bowl licked clean!" The grey haired royal chef barked from across the room.
"Alright alright. I was just leaving, Chef." The prince sheepishly headed toward to door having been caught. Just as he was about to leave, the heavy set mustached man miraculously appeared right in front of him and shoved a peach danish in his hand.
"Thank you, Chef!" He excitedly announced, then shot the old man a friendly wink on his way out.
Muttering something to himself, the royal chef grunted then returned to work.
Unfortunately for Prince Lucas, the rest of the tasks did not go so smoothly. The delegations from the Southern Kingdoms chewed his ear off for feeling disrespected that the kingdom could only afford to welcome them with their third rate prince, ouch. His third sister, Princess Paula, stabbed him in the hand multiple times, as he was forced to hold up the inside of Princess Mary's wedding dress for her last minute good luck embroidery. An escaped marital dove pooped on his head when he went to finalize the ceremony's program of events. And on and on until the hour of the wedding arrived.
To no surprise, his father, His Majesty the King, arrived just in time to carry out his official duties, then proceeded to accept all the praise for the "magical" wedding, while receiving drinks from all of the politicking nobles and foreign dignitaries. Meanwhile, Lucas was trying his best to stay hidden in the corner and get buzzed on the Southern wine, so as to avoid anymore responsibility for the day. He was fairly successful, having just finished his third cup and judging his brother, the second prince, sweet talk their father. But of course all nice things must come to an end.
The eldest daughter of the minister of education spotted him, leading to a swarm of young ladies attacking him with slashes of coquettish lashes and unbearable flirtatious laughs. One bold girl even dared to suggest engagement right on the spot, sparking whispers of when the next royal wedding would be. To his luck, not a few moments later his father, the King, boastfully declared that Prince Benedict, the second son, successfully proposed and was now engaged to the only daughter of the richest noble family in the kingdom. With all of the commotion and celebration of the auspicious news, Lucas took his chance to slip away to a quiet quarter of the castle where the servants like to rest when taking a break from waiting on anyone of his family members.
Already six out of the nine royal princes and princesses were married and now his second brother was next, leaving just him and his youngest sister on the chopping block for swift political marriages. The King's eldest daughter and first born child caused a near breakdown of all the peaceful relations between their kingdom and the neighboring ones, as well as dissatisfaction amongst the nobility when she supported her husband, the Crown Prince of the mid size Western-Kingdom, in expanding their Kingdom's borders. Thus, a hasty string of royal marriages were arranged one after the other to bandage domestic and foreign relations with loosely held political tape.
"Aah," the young prince slid onto the stone step with a sigh. Gazing out at the vast land below he muttered to himself, "With Benedict engaged now, the only ones of us left are me and Louisa. But she's only just turned fourteen, if she's lucky they'll have given up on this bullshit by the time she's grown in a few years. That leaves only me left...shit."