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I had lived in the kingdom of Coeus for as long as I could remember. It was a beautiful place to grow up, fruitful acres upon acres for the farmers to work on and for the lucky to admire. It was a place of riches, built as the strong center of the world after centuries of war.

Our world had divided itself into twelve countries, named after the twelve titans that were thought to have once governed the earth we lived on today. What was peaceful in the beginning, didn't last very long as all things in history. War ravaged our lands and impoverished the people until they came to an agreement of borders.

Those borders were still standing strong to that day, but tensions between our countries had never been more dangerous. Coeus, being the mightiest of all twelve nations, had always towered over the others, for better or for worse. It was the axis of our earth and the land which all others revolved around.

Underneath all that, Coeus was truly a prison. At least to me it was.

Especially these ominous castle walls that kept secrets hidden that are even too grim to speak about. They kept me entrapped as well, suffocating me slowly as I watched my life pass by without any say or choice. When I tried to scream, it felt like I was drowning and all I could do to not crack my head open on this gold-rimmed mirror in front of me, was to take a breath and hope the second of torture would pass. Another one would come and I did the same. All I could do at this point was breathe and hope the seconds passed by just a little more painless than the last.

And breathe.

Only I couldn't, because something was constricting me and being pulled tighter by the minute. I looked down at the corset the maids were fixing on me. Five maids. Five maids were pulling, shoving, squeezing and compressing my poor little body into this thing all while I just grasped onto that golden mirror and endured.

And pop!

Maybe that was a rib. Maybe that was my lung finally giving out. Too bad it wasn't, because I was still breathing.

"Splendid!", one of them cheered, clasping her tiny hands together, "You look just beautiful, Princess!"

They all started showering me with empty compliments and congratulating me, but all I could think about was the time ticking by and the amount of minutes I had left until I might faint.

"Princess, you're perfect for dinner!", another maid assured me, adjusting some of my makeup.

Yes, I had almost forgotten I was only going to dinner. They put me in a corset for dinner with my own family. They lined my crescent-shaped eyes with liner and powder, my lips a small heart of fuchsia lipstick. They curled my light brunette hair and stuck it up with pins. My hair that shone a shade of deep auburn when the light fell onto it.

"The king is calling", was the next thing I heard that made my mind go blank again.

I was immediately pushed out of the dressing room in my pale poofy gown. It took one maid and a few minutes to get down one of our masterful staircases towards our private dining hall. When I did arrive, two servants at the doors bowed to me and payed their respects. Then they swung the large, majestic double-doors open.

"Princess Milou of Coeus!", they announced in booming voices and just upon reflex I stepped into the room and curtsied.

The hall was large, big enough to fit a whole council of governors, but we had other dining halls for them. This one was just for our closest family. My mother, my father and my brother.

As they payed little attention to me, I drifted over to my seat on the left. As I sat in this gigantic dress of mine, I dared a glance at my father, the king, at the head of the table. It was usually a good idea to anticipate what kind of mood he was in. Today he actually seemed somewhat cheerful. As cheerful as such a soulless man could be.

"And what have you heard from Themis?", the king began speaking to the queen when the first course of dishes arrived, "The business in that country is booming!"

"They say the son of the king is just about ready to be a ruler", she answered lightly.

"Hah! We'll see about that! The king of Themis is not someone to step down so soon", he warned with a deep laugh.

I kept my eyes on my plate as always and barely listened to the conversation. All I could hope was to not be spoken to directly.

"We've gotten plantains from Oceanus", the king grinned widely and admired what delicate dishes were placed in front of him.

"The best kind", the queen nodded.

"Of course you can never really trust those from Oceanus", he joked and laughed that horrendous laugh of his again. It never failed to send shivers down my spine. He could be laughing at the people of Oceanus one minute and giggling about a beheading the next.

"But I suppose anyone's more trustworthy than those from Cronus", he continued, his undertone dark and reviving old wounds.

It made me shutter. We were once so close with those of Cronus.

"What about Mnemosyne, sir?", I decided to speak up to avoid him slandering the image of Cronus any further. It was something I simply couldn't listen to.

"Mnemosyne?", he repeated, as if he didn't even believe I had spoken, "They may be snakes, but they make for good drinking partners!"

His laughter echoed throughout the hall. It was a good thing I was sitting far away, otherwise I would have probably been able to smell the stench of aged wine on his breath.

"How are your studies going then?", he questioned once he regained himself.

"Quite well, sir", I said carefully, unsure as to why he was asking.

"Yes and remind me: Which one of the boys is the one tutoring you again?", he squinted his eyes and picked up his wine glass.

"Prince Namjoon of Iapetus, sir", I answered truthfully.

"Ah, Iapetus", he nodded approvingly, "Iapetus would make for a good alliance, wouldn't it?"

"Sir?", I furrowed my brow, not knowing what he could be implying.

"How old are you now, Milou?", he ignored my confusion.

"The age of eighteen in spring, sir."

"The age of marriage", he then stated in response, making me choke on what little breath was being allowed to pass through my corset.

"Marriage?!", I couldn't help burst out.

I was lucky that the king pretended not to hear and continued, "An alliance through marriage is the best kind of alliance. Although Coeus is strong, we could be undefeated. An alliance with one of the other seven strongest nations would really secure that, wouldn't it?"

"It would", the queen agreed and I could only watch in horror as my life unfolded in front of me once again.

"But sir-", I tried to interfere.

"We will have a banquet in time to come, for you to meet all the princes that may be your suitors", he spoke right over me, "It will be a new start for the great Coeus!"

"Long live the king", the queen raised her glass.

"Long live the nation of Coeus!", the king barked back, dripping some wine on the table as he swung his glass around.

And then everything went black.

I knew I only had under an hour to breathe in that corset.

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