Slenderverse One-shots

Princess ⊗ MH

A03 Request: Princess Jay
NOTE: There wasn't much to go on for this request but I decided to try to do something for it.

Also, since the request used the term "Princess" this is gender-bent Jay, so it uses she/her pronouns.

A sigh escaped the princess as she looked out over the realm as the dawn light began to shine through the window. The slight breeze brought the smell of the forest just outside the gates. It was a shame she was trapped in here when she could be out exploring.

"But it's for my own protection." Jay thought, her father's words repeating in her mind. "Yeah right..."

The only thing her father cared about was the royal family's image. As the only heir, Jay was expected to follow every rule, practice perfect etiquette, and above all act like the princess she was. One day the throne would be hers after all.

"How am I ever supposed to lead a kingdom if I don't even know anyone in it?"

Already the common-folk could be seen working in the fields or milling about the streets selling or buying goods. The knights were training in the yard below, which also made Jay envious. Even the servants and stable boys had more excitement in their lives than she did.

"I can have anything I want except freedom." The princess felt like that pet bird her mother kept—trapped and unable to spread her wings to fly. "Feel more like a prisoner than anything."

A knock came from her door and she turned, already knowing it was the servants coming to serve breakfast. Maybe they'd tell her any important news or state that one of her parents wanted to speak with her afterwards... but most days they just left the meal and came back a while later to collect the dishes and ask if Jay needed anything.

Jay always wanted to tell them she wanted to go into the forest. To see the birds that she could hear singing each morning and touch the trees that had been there long before this town as she imagined what the landscape once looked like. If she was lucky, maybe she'd even come across one of the timid deer.

But each time she just dismissed them.

Another knock made her snap out of the dull thoughts.

"Enter."

Sarah stepped in, sitting the tray of delicious smelling food in the same spot it always went. Straightening, Sarah spoke up as Jay walked over. "Princess, the King would like to see you in the throne room as soon as possible. He insists you wear your finest dress."

"Suitors again?" Lately Jay's father had been pressuring her more and more to find a man to marry.

At first it had been exclusively princes from other kingdoms, which would have of course meant forfeiting her own throne to rule next to them as a consort with little power in their kingdom far from home. But lately it had started to include nobles and even esteemed knights. Each time she turned them down for one reason or another.

Jay didn't know how to tell her father that men didn't interest her. She feared how he'd react as well. The King had never shown disapproval of marriages of the same sex before but the princess wondered if the same would hold true if she voiced her preference. She, after all, held the fate of their bloodline on her shoulders if they never made another heir themselves.

"Princess?" Sarah prompted her to respond, having seemingly been talking. "Are you ill?"

"...Yes." Jay lied, wanting anything to get out of her father's plans for the day.

She looked out the window once more. "The fresh air helps but I feel very under the weather."

"I will let the King know it may be best to postpone. Please, ring if you need anything."

And then she was alone again. Left to gaze longingly out the window to dream of lives she could have that were much more exciting than the one she led in the castle. Maybe one day she'd get the courage to escape, spread her wings and really fly.

Until then, the princess was only a trapped bird; pampered but never free of the cage.