He remembered never feeling so alone and so damn terrified his entire life.

It was merely a day after his sixteenth birthday when he had to move away from home and into a place that was both so familiar yet so foreign at the same time.

He remembered entering that place – The Palace – in the middle of the island of Grautaz with all its ivory walls, marble columns, French double doors, and floor to ceiling windows. It was grand and beautiful and spacious… but it was empty. And he was going to stay there for four days a week until the day after his twenty fifth birthday. He was going to stay there because that was what the law required. He was going to stay there because that was what he was bound to.

He was going to stay because he was the Crown Prince.

“Your Highness, as the heir apparent, you will be receiving regular lessons on proper etiquette and decorum, at least three languages of your choice, local and world history, local and international politics and economics, culture, visual arts, music, equestrian and at least two more sports per the 1810 Mandate of Succession. They are believed to be helpful to you in your future reign as king. Do you have any questions, Your Highness?”

“I have one.”

“What is it, Your Highness?”

“When is the soonest time I can come home to visit?”

Even in the age of modernity and technology, Grautaz remained steeped in centuries old tradition and customs. In the midst of the cell phones and iPads and sports cars, there remained the balls, the styles, the hierarchy and the strict laws.

“Your highness, if someone – let’s say, a commoner from a foreign land – were to ask you to briefly describe Grautaz, how would you do it.”

“Grautaz is a nearly irregularly pentagonal-shaped island in the Northern Hemisphere bound in the north by the Aexa River, the Kryos Ocean in the east and south, and the Wundan Sea in the west.” He recited the facts the way it was taught to him in his first year in The Palace as if he was merely being asked what one plus one was equal to. “As its shape suggests, Grautaz is separated into five kingdoms, each with its own monarchy, and are collectively referred to as the Pentagonal States.”

“What are these five kingdoms, Your Highness?”

“Auszra, the Kingdom of the Fields and the Eastern State, Molere, the Kingdom of Sand and the South-eastern State, Cerran, the Kingdom of the City and the South-western State, Bece, the Kingdom by the Bay and the Western State, and Sien, the Kingdom of the Mountains and the Northern State.”

“Very good, Your Highness. Now what can you tell the same commoner about the monarchies of the Pentagonal States?”

“Auszrian Sovereign is His Majesty The King of Auszria and his heir apparent is his daughter, the Crown Princess Soomi. Cerranian Sovereign is His Majesty The King of Cerran and his heir apparent is his son, the Crown Prince Luhan. The Molerian Sovereign is Her Majesty The Queen of Molere and her heir apparent is her son, the Crown Prince Changmin. The Becian Sovereign is His Majesty The King of Bece. He has no wife and issue, making his second brother the current heir apparent.”

“And Sien, Your Highness?”

“The Sienian Sovereign is His Majesty The King of Sien.”

“And who is the heir apparent of His Majesty?”

“I am.”

His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Jaerim of Sien.

The style and the position certainly had its ups and downs. One of them, as declared law by the 1810 Mandate of Succession signed by their ancestors, required all heirs and heiresses apparent to reside, to be trained, to be moulded in The Palace, found in the heart of Grautaz. As the eldest of the successors of his generation, he arrived in The Palace first and lived there alone, regardless of the presence of tutors and maids and the rest of the household staff, until the next resident arrived a year later.

Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess Soomi of Auszra was, to him, a lot like her kingdom. Dainty and elegant and a breath of fresh air. Before their days in The Palace, he had always been so shy around her and her younger sisters, Princesses Sooyoung and Sulli. It wasn’t that he was awkward around girls. It was just that he found the princesses of Auszra to be different – carefree and vibrant and full of life.

Nearly every table in The Palace had a vase full of flowers the day after she arrived. And she made a point to teach him about them too – about tulips and roses and morning glories and daisies and petunias and what have you. He’d spend an hour or two before bed just listening to her stories about running around in the meadows, picking flowers and having picnics, how spring would always be most beautiful in Auszra and how she’d once tried to record the different species she found in her kingdom but failed because there were simply too many. In return, he’d tell her about the rather very cold climate in Sien, playing hide and seek amongst the trees and climbing up them, and sitting by the edge of the cliffs just to watch the sunset over the waters of Bece. Sure, they’d been to each other’s kingdoms before. But it was different seeing things from another person’s eyes.

He knew, even at that age, that certain members of the Council of Elders, duly elected by mandate and served the purpose of the Supreme Court in foreign lands, somehow expected them to fall in love with each other. They were each other’s constant company. But it never happened. Instead, he’d found a best friend in the Crown Princess and even if he was older, he figured he also found an older sister figure; one that he’d always wanted.

“You know, sister, back when I didn’t know you well, I’d describe you as someone so similar to her kingdom.”

“Really now, brother?” She was clearly amused; her fingers pausing in mid-air on its way to take a teaspoon of sugar crystals for her tea. “How’d you come up with that comparison?”

“Well, you’re a lot like the flowers and the breezy spring in Auszra you always tell me about.” Jaerim began rather awkwardly. He never really had a plan to say any of this to her but for some reason, it just slipped out. “You’re carefree and full of life and a breath of fresh air. It’s like you go where the wind takes you.”

“That’s really nice, Jae.” Soomi grinned, absently running her fingers through her thick raven hair that reached just past her shoulders. “You’re a lot like Sien too, you know.”

“How so?”

“Well, you seem all cool and whatever at first. Formal, straightforward… just like the mountains. But beneath that, there’s a certain charm and wit and humor that is quite unexpected.”

“Me or the mountains of Sien?”

“Both, brother.”

His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Changmin of Molere arrived two years later.

Much to Changmin’s later amusement, the two elder future successors had included him it what had since been called as their bedtime storytelling. They told him how they likened each other to their respective kingdoms and done the same for him, saying that he was a lot like the deserts of Molere – tough and strong and sometimes moody. He’d tell them about how scorching hot it could be in the mornings and how damn cold it could be in the evenings. He told them about the camel rides and the rare plants that grew in Molere, so unlike Auszra, and the artifacts they’d find beneath the dunes here and there.

They were like the older brother and sister he never got to have. Sure, he wasn’t the youngest, as His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Luhan of Cerran would arrive two years later, but he felt loved and looked over and protected and well, even spoiled. He was different, in a way, because only his kingdom had a female Sovereign and though his mother was Queen, he believed she was like any other mother out there who’d sing her sons to sleep and take them to the park and cook them breakfast herself. She was soft-hearted, which balanced out her sharp wit and quick mind. She always had to prove herself, even when she became Queen. She had no choice, really. In a land governed by a strong preference for males over females in the royal family, she was seen by many Elders as weak. And he, the eldest son and heir apparent, took it upon himself to be strong, calculated and tough, sometimes temperamental and cold to protect her and to prove himself worthy of the title.

When he was with Soomi and Jaerim, he was just Changmin, the younger snarky, sarcastic brother.

When Luhan arrived, he came with a dilemma.

Luhan, as Jaerim, Soomi, and Changmin, concluded wasn’t much like his kingdom.

Sure, his technical skills exceeded all three of theirs combined, he knew the latest hair products and clothes and how to fix himself on his own in the morning without putting much effort into it and he sure did benefit, as did the rest of the four kingdoms from the technological advancements his kingdom produced, he wasn’t quite like Cerran. He was awkward and shy in general and hated the daily schedules they had to live with in The Palace. He was as laidback as he was quick both in movement and in the uptake. Many times he’d tell them that life in Cerran was monotonous and fast-paced, like everything had a schedule and delays were hated.

It was Luhan who always initiated their bedtime storytelling sessions, which quickly progressed from shari