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Story Introduction!
No one was as beloved as the Princess,-- the people adored her, loved her,-- if news of her death got out...
When she was discovered in her room, the victim of an assassin, there was a panic among the royal family but everything was quickly taken care of by the Vizier. He found her, a peasant girl with little in the way of royal graces but who bore a remarkable resemblance to the late Princess. They garbed her in riches, trotted her out for public appearances, and then kept her more or less to herself the rest of the time. It wasn't a bad life, better than the one she'd escaped from (and could never return to), and even if she didn't really belong it was sometimes possible to just.. pretend.
It's likely she'd have been little more than a pretty doll, dressed up and put on display, if it wasn't for Him, her betrothed. An arrangement had long ago been made that 'they' would be wed and a merger between their houses entered into that would greatly benefit both. It was vitally important, and with the Princess’s death, utterly impossible. Unless, of course, they could groom this peasant girl to fill the role. So, when she wasn’t being trotted out before the peasants, she was being trained in matters of grace and taught courtly manners. The rough spots in her common speech were hammered out, slowly, and she was taught what was necessary about matters of the lordly folk whose lives had always been so far above her.
All so that, tomorrow,-- when he finally arrives,-- she'll be able to meet the man that she'll be expected to marry.
However, they don't know, of course, the rest of the plan...
...nor, indeed, the aims of the people that had the Princess killed in the first place.
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