The garden of Jasmine flowers filled the air as the moonlight crept through the thin white curtains of the suite. A homely space so sophisticated but also very simple. And the bedchamber was filled with the sound of urgency, the rustle of skirts, and murmurs from the maids.

And the reason for it all was a woman, lying on the bed, clutching the sheets, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

"Steady now, Your Grace! The little one is nearly here!", the nurse assured, her voice laced with anticipation. "Just a little more effort!"

The woman's brow furrowed and her face was in complete distress. Her determination was evident in the tight set of her jaw.

All the eyes of the people in the room were set upon her. Some worried, some... contemptuous. Even though the world did not yet greet the child, it was already seen as a threat.

A final cry burst out of the woman's mouth, and a gasp of relief was soon let out. She immediately slumped her head against the stack of pillows behind her when the pain was quickly eased.

"It's... It's a prince, Your Grace!", the nurse smiled at her, carrying the wailing child and immediately wrapping the young one in warm cloth.

Though still in pain, she raised her head and looked for her child.

"Can I see him?", she asks, raising her arms, ready to embrace him.

The nurse approached the woman with the child and passed him to her gently. The woman looked at her baby with a soft yet poignant expression. Cheeks flushed with redness, a small button nose, and lips that tinged with a vibrant hue of red, showing all signs of the child's good health after being just birthed. Her eyes welled with tears when she saw the child's head, crowned with tiny strands of silver-white hair—barely visible yet unmistakably present—a rare trait that he alone inherited from the emperor, his father, setting him apart from his siblings.

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The child opened his eyes and unveiled a strong color of emerald green. A wave of ease washed over the maids when they saw those eyes, which the woman found offensive as it meant they doubted her pregnancy, striking her very dignity.

Brushing off their insulting reactions, she looked at her baby and touched his palm with her finger which the young one grasped instinctively.

The woman searched for the nurse and with a polite tone, she asked and looked at her in an expecting manner.

"And the emperor?", the woman asked.

The nurse felt a pang of dejection. A question so innocent yet piercing weighed heavily in the nurse's heart. The moment the woman saw the nurse's face, she immediately understood. The woman sighed and kept her poise despite hearing her husband's absence. Instead, she gave all her attention to her little boy, cooing in her arms.

She pressed her rose-colored lips against the child's forehead and looked at him in awe, thinking that nothing mattered to her other than her baby. At that moment, the child became her world, and a flow of emotions rushed through her head, feeling joyed by her son's birth and at the same time, fearful of what was to become of his future.

"I'm deeply sorry for bringing you into a world so fraught with challenges, my precious... It seems your path will be more arduous as you are a prince. Know that I will do everything in my power to shield you from harm."

In the first month of the 2nd season in the year 279 in the Great Empire Dhara, a woman gave birth to a prince. And the young boy was named Cleus Dominique von Fermielis, the 7th prince of Dhara and the 13th child of Emperor Reginald Augustus von Fermielis.

A life destined to confront great trials, with a future that defied all expectations. A journey unmarked by prophecy, and a fate that would alter the course of the empire and the Imperial Family of Dhara forever.