The Eustil Kingdom’s current monarch, King Wiscott I, had two sons. The 20-year-old crown prince, Lloyd Ludan Eustil and the 19-year-old second prince Alford Ludan Eustil.0

The two were bitter rivals, locked in an intense struggle for the throne. By the principle of primogeniture, the crown should naturally pass to the firstborn, Lloyd. However, the situation was far more complicated than that.0

Originally, King Wiscott I’s consort was Queen Melea, the daughter of the Duke of Wheeler, a high-ranking noble family of Eustil. Their marriage had been arranged for political purposes.0

The relationship between the king and queen was neither particularly loving nor hostile. Both had been raised to marry for the sake of their families, not for love, and neither had a particularly passionate disposition that might have disrupted this pragmatic arrangement.0

For ten years after their marriage, they lived as an ordinary royal couple, maintaining a stable, if unremarkable, relationship. The problem was their lack of children. The absence of an heir was a critical issue for the kingdom.0

Naturally, both the royal family and the nobility pressured King Wiscott I to take...0