The view of Königsstadt and the imperial palace from the tower of Anshelm was absolutely breathtaking. From the top floor of the tower one could look down on the imperial capital like a god looking down on its creation. Built long ago by King Tiedemann so that his son Anshelm ‘the cripple-prince’ von Adler could more easily take part in his hobby of astronomy, the tower had been built up far past the rest of the imperial palace. The tower’s most magnificent feature, other than its height, was its top floor, which consisted of a single octagonal room with four cantilevered balconies, each roughly five imperial paces by five imperial paces in area. It was topped by a domed ceiling and its walls were decorated with gold-flake stars that sat upon a faux sky of dark-blue paint. Sometime after the death of Anshelm the tower was abandoned by the prince’s entourage of astronomers in favor of a taller and higher facility in the town of Oberberg, deep in the mountains to the south. Serving no functional purpose outside of astronomy, much of the tower remained unused by the house of Adler for some time, right up until it found a new admirer in the form of Anshelm’s great niece, Princess Alexandra von Adler. The young princess saw the top floor of the tower as a sanctuary far from the affairs of the house of Adler and had it converted into a comfortable living space equipped with a number of bookshelves and soft chairs. Though the princess had never taken a liking to astronomy, she still felt as though she would have gotten along rather well with her great uncle, had he lived in her time. Over the course of her teenage years the tower would become her favorite hideaway. The time she spent there consisted of some of the happiest memories in her life. Unfortunately it would also be the site of one of her worst memories as well.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” a tall, muscular young man with blonde hair and a boyishly handsome face said as he climbed up the stairs within the tower of Anshelm with a large burlap sack and a large two-handed sword slung over one shoulder and a young woman hanging on to the other.

“Sorry, about this…” The woman replied in a voice that was barely above a murmur as the two of them entered the top floor of the tower. The man then set the girl’s thin, skeleton-like body down on a cushioned chair as if he was moving a delicate and priceless porcelain doll.

“You don’t have to… help me up, Eike… I would have made it… eventually…” The young woman huffed out as she collapsed into the chair. The man smiled back at her.

“Oh it’s no big deal,” He replied as he set the sword and the bag down and took a seat near her. The short girl had a sickly pale complexion and a face that was covered in freckles. She wore an elegant green dress and her bright orange hair was fashioned into a simple ponytail. A small emerald hung from her neck on a silver necklace. The emerald almost perfectly matched the color of her eyes.

“So… it’s going to be another day in the tower, isn’t it?” Ekkehardt asked.

“Yes. I even had Mrs. Brinkerhoff instruct Eszti to have our lunch delivered to us. I asked for the goulash again,” Alexandra explained while sifting through a pile of books.

“Oh…” Ekkehardt mumbled with a concerned look on his face as he realized that the meal was meant to be eaten mostly by him. It was an unwritten rule that all food prepared by the palace’s primary kitchen was to only be consumed by high ranking nobles while knights, barons, and commoners were only allowed to eat food prepared in secondary and tertiary kitchens. Everything that was prepared in this primary kitchen, even dishes that were typically eaten by commoners, was of a quality that was without parallel in the empire and perhaps even the continent. Alexandra often requested food that was officially for herself, but was often shared with Ekkehardt in the privacy of the tower’s top floor. Ekkehardt appreciated the gesture, but found himself unable to avoid thinking about how this event fit into a disturbing trend he had noticed in Alexandra’s behavior: In the past few weeks her appetite had started to wane. Every week Ekkehardt found himself eating just a little bit more than before. Wanting to clear his mind of this, Ekkehardt got up and opened a shutter to let some more light in. He then got to work cleaning up a corner of the room that had gotten rather untidy. It was rather menial work; a complete waste of talent for someone like Ekkehardt. The blonde-haired man fully understood this, but it never quite bothered him. He figured that the talents he had were better left wasted.

“Ekkehardt, I think that I would like to be absent during my father’s birthday dinner next week. Do you think that you and Mrs. Brinkerhoff could arrange that?” Alexandra asked, not looking up from her book. Ekkehardt turned back to look at her.

“I don’t know if we could do that. The only way you’re going to be able to be absent from that dinner is if you have another… uh... ‘episode’ and if we were to fake such an event we would have to get Rasmussen’s help with that,” Ekkehardt explained. Alexandra sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Even if that did work I would still probably end up stuck in my room rather than here,” Alexandra added. Ekkehardt stopped what he was doing and looked directly at the princess.

“Alex, I’m not going to pretend like I don’t understand how things are between you, your father, and his court, but are you sure this sort of thinking is healthy?”

“What sort of thinking?” Alexandra responded, still not looking up at Ekkehardt.

“All you want to do is stay in the tower reading and drinking ale. I don’t know much about literature, but I’m pretty sure none of those books would describe a princess being locked up in a tower as a good thing,” Ekkehardt explained. Alexandra looked up from her book with a tired expression on her face.

“What good would spending time down there do?” Alexandra asked.

“Well, didn’t Rasmussen tell you to get more sunlight and fresh air?”

“Eike, we both know that the goal of Rasmussen’s advice is to extend my life, not to save it. As far as I’m concerned a day spent reading and drinking ale in my tower is worth more than a century down there dealing with my father’s court. Besides, spending time with them won’t serve any purpose.”

“That’s not true, Alex. As a princess of…” Ekkehardt began only to be cut off.

“As a princess of the empire my purpose in life is to get married and bear children that carry von Adler blood and I can’t do either of those things. I’m completely useless, except as a tool for degenerates like von Steinmann to use to get closer to my father,” Alexandra lamented. Ekkehardt walked to the young princess.

“You shouldn’t say things like that, Alex.”

“But, it’s true and you know it. I had one job in society and I messed it up,” the princess snapped back.

“Now you’re acting like your illness is your fault.”

“It might as well be my fault. Everyone except for you, your family, Alexander, and Mrs. Brinkerhoff treats me like that’s the case.”

“Alex, I know…” Ekkehardt began, only to get shot down once again as the princess cut him off and began to berate him.

“No, you don’t. You’ve never failed at anything in your entire life. I failed to do the one thing that was expected of me and thousands of people might die because of it! You...” Alexandra shouted before being cut off herself by a sudden spell of loud dry-coughing.

Without thinking, Ekkehardt produced a white handkerchief and pressed it against Alexandra’s mouth while holding the back of one of her shoulders with his free hand. After a minute or so her coughing subsided and Ekkehardt removed the handkerchief from Alexandra’s mouth, revealing a large blood-stain on the side that was exposed to the princess’s mouth.

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“Oh, not again…” Ekkehardt muttered as he then used the handkerchief to wipe a little bit of blood from a corner of Alexandra’s mouth.

“I’m sorry…” Alexandra whispered as Ekkehardt attended to her as though she was a small child.

“It’s okay,” Ekkehardt said, “Did any of the blood get on your clothes?”

“No, I think you got all of it, Eike,” Alexandra replied. Ekkehardt then got up and walked to a distant corner of the room where a basket of bloodstained white handkerchiefs sat atop a small table. Next to the basket was a short stack of neatly-folded clean white handkerchiefs. Ekkehardt proceeded to take one of these clean handkerchiefs and put it in his pocket.

“Eike…” Alexandra called out as Ekkehardt inspected the handkerchief before putting it in his pocket.

“Yes,” He called back while turning around to face the princess.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you earlier. I…”

“You don’t need to apologize. I shouldn’t have tried to get you to leave the tower,” Ekkehardt responded as he poured the princess a cup of ale and handed it to her. Alexandra then took a small sip from the cup.

Suddenly a knock came from the door.

“Who is?” Ekkehardt shouted.

“It’s me! I brought her highness’s meal!” the voice called from behind the door. Ekkehardt immediately recognized the voice and slowly opened the door while keeping one hand on the rondel dagger tucked away in the scabbard that hung on his belt. When the door was fully open and Ekkehardt was able to confirm the absence of any threat he found himself looking directly at Eszti Szép1, a servant of the imperial family. Like Cili, she was a Peschtian, but her Alemanian was perfect, save for a thick accent. She was a bit taller than Alexandra and stood roughly at Ekkehardt’s shoulder. Her wheat-colored hair was worn in a ponytail. She wore a simple brown dress that did little to mitigate the allure of her feminine figure. Ekkehardt proceeded to open the door fully and step out of her way while allowing the hand that clung to his dagger to rest.

“I hope your day is going well, your highness,” Eszti said with a natural cheerfulness to her voice as she set a tray down on the table in front of Alexandra. The tray contained a white porcelain bowl containing Peschtian goulash, a plate of sliced sour-dough bread, a plate containing both red and white sauerkraut, a small bowl of purple grapes, and a cup of red Strivalian wine. Even with her relatively weak sense of smell Princess Alexandra could smell the rich aroma of beef, tomatoes, and paprika emanating from the goulash.

“It’s been fine, Eszti. Thank you for asking,” Alexandra responded.

“That’s great to hear, your highness. Is there anything else I can do for you,” Eszti asked.

“No. You may leave us,” The princess replied. Eszti nodded her head respectively and began to leave the room only to stop suddenly as she neared Ekkehardt.

“Oh yes…” Eszti said as she stopped in her tracks and turned to Ekkehardt to give him a sultry smile “I just remembered something…” At this point the two of them were at a distance where they could speak to each other without being heard by Alexandra, provided they were whispering. Eszti, underestimating the princesses’ sense of hearing, decided to speak at a volume just a hair louder than a whisper.

“And that is?” Ekkehardt asked.

“Well…” Eszti spoke as he began to play with her hair, “I couldn’t help, but notice that his majesty’s birthday is approaching soon. I understand that you will be attending the festivities.”

“Yes I will, though I will be doing so in my capacity as her highness’s personal guard,” Ekkehardt answered.

“Oh. That’s understandable. Well, I would like to inform you that some of the servants and I are holding our own celebration after the more formal festivities have concluded. Stanislav told me that the imperial family tended to spend the night after the party alone and their personal guards were free to take the night off. I also heard that your cousin Ludwig2 would attend the servants’ celebrations often before he left for Kleinkastelburg. I was wondering if you would be interested in accompanying me to them,” Eszti asked as she gave Ekkehardt a seductive smile. Despite this Ekkehardt’s composure remained unchanged.

“I’m afraid that I won’t be able to attend any such gathering. Although we will not be required to be on duty that night, Siegfried, my father, and I will still be patrolling the area near the imperial family. We have very… different views on our duties than Ludwig,” Ekkehardt responded. Ekkehardt considered elaborating on his last point out of fear that his statement may be interpreted as a denigration of his cousin’s character, but he figured that, one way or another, Eszti would learn that his words had less to do with Ludwig and more to do with the person he was sworn to protect. Eszti’s smile melted away.

“Oh. Well, that’s unfortunate…” She said. Eszti then began to walk away and Ekkehardt slowly returned to the princess. Alexandra, who had overheard the entire exchange, couldn’t help, but wonder why Ekkehardt had turned down Eszti’s offer. Ekkehardt definitely could have taken that night off if he had wanted to. Alexandra stared blankly down at her food as she pondered this. As she ruminated on the matter her mind became filled with feelings of guilt. Was it her fault that Ekkehardt spent most of his time trapped with her in the tower of Anshelm? Was she the reason why he couldn’t do things like attend parties with attractive young women? Had she become Ekkehardt’s ball and chain?

“I hope you intend to eat at least some of that,” Ekkehardt said as he sat down next to her.

“Oh, yes…” Alexandra blurted out as her mind returned to the present. She then took a small spoonful of goulash and slowly consumed it. After a few moments of struggle, she was finally able to chew the food and get it down her throat. The two of them sat together in silence as the princess ate roughly a third of the meal before handing it over to Ekkehardt, who began to eat it. After a few minutes of chewing in silence Ekkehardt had finished most of the meal. Then, after swallowing a spoonful of the goulash (mostly just gravy and small bits of vegetables) Ekkehard turned to Alexandra.

“Is something bothering you?” Ekkehardt asked before putting a forkful of sauerkraut into his mouth. After a brief, but tense silence Alexandra responded.

“Eike, I’m not a burden to you, am I?” She asked.

“A burden? What would make you think that?” Ekkehardt replied.

“I overheard the conversation you had with Eszti,” She said. Ekkehardt’s face remained unchanged, but within a feeling of mild apprehension spread throughout his body.

“Yeah? What about it?” He asked.

“The party the servants were throwing; you know that it wouldn’t be a problem if you went, right?” Alexandra asked.

“I’m aware of that,” Ekkehardt responded.

“I see,” Alexandra said. She wasn’t sure how to press onward. Ekkehardt then sighed.

“Alex, you do know that I’m not interested in that sort of thing, right?” Ekkehardt asked. Upon hearing this a shock ran through Alexandra’s body.

“You’re not interested in… women…” Alexandra blurted out in an unexpected panic. While this was generally considered taboo across the continent (and to a lesser extent in Osminite lands as well), Ekkehardt’s brother Siegfried was occasionally the target of jokes that pertained to his sexuality due to how seriously he treated his duties as Alexander’s personal guard, but Alexandra could never imagine Ekkehardt as a homosexual.

“...No, that’s not what I meant,” Ekkehardt said with a confused look on his face, “I just don’t want to go to some party with Eszti, especially not after she framed the situation in the way that she did.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know exactly what I mean by that.”

“No, I don’t,” Alexandra replied. Ekkehardt sighed.

“What I mean is that she was framing the situation as not just a party, but a party with a… a ‘happy ending’,” Ekkehardt explained as he struggled to find the right words.

“A happy ending?”

“I mean the sort of happy ending that you get with a man and a woman,” Ekkehardt explained as Alexandra’s face began to turn red.

“Oh…” She leaked out. There was a brief silence as she regained her composure.

“So, you’re saying that you don’t find Eszti attractive?”

“Well… no, that’s not exactly the case… I just don’t want to be with her in that capacity,” Ekkehardt answered.

“Oh…” Alexandra responded.

“What does Eszti have to do with you being a burden anyways?” Ekkehardt asked. Alexandra sighed and looked down towards the floor.

“I… It’s just that after the news about my health got out and my betrothal to Crown Prince Francesco was called off I couldn’t help, but feel like I was just a burden to everyone; you in particular. If this had never happened to me and the two of us had the opportunity to go to Strettia3, then you wouldn’t be stuck here with me. You would have had a chance to live your own life; find someone that you care about,” Alexandra lamented. Ekkehardt put his hand on the shoulder of the princess.

“Alex, I do…” He began, only to be cut off by a voice coming from outside the room.

“Oh, Alexandra! Are you up there?” The voice called. Alex, instantly recognizing the voice, felt the blood leave her face and knot grow in her stomach. Ekkehardt, who also recognized the voice, quickly leapt away from Alexandra, grabbed his sword, and assumed a stiff, statue-like position standing some distance away from the princess. The young man was barely able to complete this sequence of actions before the door to the room slammed open to reveal Agrippina von Adler, the elder sister of Alexandra. It was at that exact moment it dawned on Alexandra, that her day was going to be anything, but peaceful.