"denmark." the word came out rougher than he'd intended, memory hitting him like a physical thing. he could still see her in that dress, the way she'd kept glancing over at him from across the ballroom while he'd stood there like an idiot, working up the courage. "i was terrified," he admitted, the honesty slipping out before he could stop it. "you were... you are..." he shook his head, laughing at himself. "christ, i'm still terrible at this."
he held out his hand anyway, palm up, an offering. "no waiting this time. dance with me?" his voice dropped lower, meant just for her. "before i lose my nerve again."
the music was soft, something classical and safe, but all he could think about was how easily they'd always fit together. how right it felt to have her this close, even when everything about it was wrong. the weight of his arrangement with elena pressed at the back of his mind, a sharp reminder of the life waiting for him back in belgium, but for now he let himself forget about everything except the woman in his arms.
"we're both terrible at staying away from each other, aren't we?"
it was years in the past, and yet everything was still the same dance. he makes her smile, and she makes him stutter — and it was only a matter of time until he sweeps her off her feet, yet again.
" were we meant to stay away from each other? " they were, technically, but it was never explicitly said. it was a good idea to separate after they had broken up, it was a good idea for ariel to stop moping and move on with her life with elio. was this a good idea? it remains to be seen. " but you're right, it certainly doesn't help when you're dressed in a suit and looking at me like that. "
ariel, never shy nor too careful with her spoken words, why should she start with beau?
he knew he was in trouble the moment he stepped off the plane in austria. months apart, and one look at ariel had his carefully constructed resolve crumbling. he had to be careful — couldn't let his stare linger too long or araya would notice and call him out in front of half the wedding party.
they'd played their parts perfectly, the dutiful maid of honor and best man, but it wasn't until he'd caught her spinning away from some portuguese duke and pulled her into his arms that he felt like he could actually breathe.
"you look…" the words died on his tongue. how could he tell her she was stunning without it turning into a desperate confession? his fiancée had made her excuses not to come — some charity gala she couldn't miss — and while he should have cared, all he felt was relief. for once, he wasn't wearing the weight of his arranged marriage like armor. "feels like old times."
she was smiling so much that her face had started to hurt. a bragança wedding — a savoy wedding ! — had always been a boisterous and bright affair, what with every relative leaving their respective castles and palaces to descend upon a party laden with booze and laughter. it didn't really matter that she smiled a little too widely at a certain best man, nor did she even attempted to avert her eyes every time she caught him staring at her.
dangerous already. yet ariel had never been one to shy away like a wilting flower. they could be friends, right? ari was friends with her exes all the time !
" i think you might be right. " she set down her flute of champagne, a grin – softer now, for everything always felt a little softer with him — began to bloom. " i think the last time was that wedding in denmark, no ? it took you forever to ask me for a dance. "
ariel, with her easy smiles and bright eyes, looked up at him from where she sat, prim and proper with her ankles tucked to one side.
" so are you going to do the same thing again now? "
" wait— hold on did you hear what she just said? " isabela leant closer to her companion, eyes wide and a slight smile started to bloom across her face.
" you know, i'm not sure about this. " defne had been very vocal about her support at first, but now after fully moved-in, doubts had started to settle. " everyone is a little too close for comfort here, and it almost feels like a diplomatic incident waiting to happen. i'm wondering if the benefits really outweigh the risks. "
" what are you talking about? of course i'm invited. " even if she was being serious, isa wouldn't be above jumping the fence between their backyards to crash the party. " by the way... do you know if we're allowed to leave the property? like— what if someone needs an emergency trip to a department store, or something. "
she had been summoned, quite like a dog if she was being perfectly honest, but isa curious enough in how the dauphin was living to not ask too many questions. did he have 3 roommates she doesn't know about? is he relegated to bunk beds to be shared with his siblings? so many questions ! " so, what do you want? " her dark eyes flickered subtly to the walls, the artful placement of the vase on the coffee table. " if you want to talk trade, i'm not interested. you can call my brother. "
" right, truthfully — i don't think that we could accept the proposal, as is. " defne began carefully, taking a sip of her whiskey. " i'm sure you understand, but given the interest in the sector we have been fielding quite a few requests from the region. i'd love to prepare a counter-offer, if you're interested? " they're still in the beginning stages of an informal discussion, after all.
" so when are you gonna throw a party? " isa was definitely not going to let people into her house, might as well have them mess up suvi's instead. " i think there's just enough space here... "
FULL NAME: isabel magalona roxas
FULL TITLE: princess isabel of the philippines
NICKNAME: isa
AGE: thirty
GENDER: cis woman, she / her
STATUS: single
MIND & PERSONALITY
LANGUAGES: tagalog, english, french, mandarin
EDUCATION: bachelor of arts ( art history ), sorbonne university
TRAITS: adventurous, confident, cultured, emotional, demanding, indulgent, influential, fiery, compulsive, mischievous
CHARACTER INSPO.: princess margaret ( the crown ), lady rose ( downton abbey ), princess louise — duchess of argyll ( history )
FAMILY
FATHER: king fernando iii of the philippines
MOTHER: queen julia
SIBLINGS: crown prince/ss of the philippines ( future wc ), older siblings
HISTORY
isabel has been influential for as long as anyone could remember. it all started when someone had taken a candid picture of the princess sticking her tongue out at her brother during sunday service at age four, and how every mother in the philippines started to put blue ribbons in their daughters' hair the next day, just like the princess at church. she has always been bright, glittering under the spotlight behind her parents and siblings with a too-bright smile and generous waves of her arms.
the media absolutely loves her, and the public fawns over her every move. adorable little princess who plays pranks on her siblings and smiles a little too widely, a welcome, entertaining blip in the otherwise prim and proper royal family. the image follows her to school with the other children, she's always the most popular, the one who held court in the middle of the cafeteria, and when she pinned a new brooch onto her blazer every other girl followed the next day. tastemaker, influential, isa learnt very early of the power that brought.
but she was never that bright. lovestruck students and admirers did her homework and fed her exam answers, it was a wonder how the teachers managed to look away long enough for them to do so. isa wasn't above doing things the wrong way, in some ways, she revelled in it; the freedom that it brought. she would never sit on the throne of her country, but she was content in wielding a different sort of power that fed her ego.
isa left for paris as soon as her graduation party subsided. her father had a call with the dean of sorbonne in order to let his daughter to waltz right in — an art history degree, a truthfully nothing degree, it was effectively a piece of paper that was bought for her to enforce to the public that she wasn't going to just waste her life away. of course, she wasn't without her critics. the filipino community in paris and around france were not shy in voicing their disdain that she had not once visited the embassy outside the handful of formal photo ops, some accounts even swore that she were downright condescending and mean towards them in person ! thankfully, not many of such recollections remained posted — somehow deleted or buried under a large swathe of praise.
she had joined the high society of paris seamlessly, soon standing out as a diamond in her own right. isa spent her friday nights in ballrooms of gorgeous chateaus, glowing under candlelight and smoking a cigarette whilst lounging in an armani gown ( think: laracosima ) whilst gossiping with eighteen of her closest friends. her style became headline news and spoken about by fashion critics in the philippines and abroad, propelled even further when she received her first met gala invitation at age twenty-three. isabel had even scored an internship at l'officiel after graduation ! of course, her job involved going to parties at the arm of the editor-in-chief, and taking pictures in the latest runway samples that were sent to their offices in order for her to post casual 'day in the life' videos on tiktok.
if there was outrage, isabel didn't pay it much mind.
a little after her twenty-fifth birthday, a scandal had raked through the roxas family back in the philippines — her eldest sibling's cheating rumour had been proven to be true, and an outspoken mistress has been making her rounds in the media. her mother had begged her to come home, to somehow bury the news and dig the crown heir out of the hole they had placed the crown in. she had no choice. isabel had put her instagram to work. pictures with her nieces and nephews, her giggling during a 'private' family karaoke session as she belted out old family favourites, dinners with local duchesses before attending charity galas.
it was a transparent attempt in ushering in good pr, and somehow it worked.
and so it was solidified, isabel was the family's secret weapon. no one could blame her easy attitude, her soft forgiveness, the way she swooped in with bright laughter and light personality. she gave interviews and spoke candidly, unscripted and authentic ( at least seemingly so ), she would never shy away from a question. suddenly, condemning a person without a single blemish in their reputation who made a small mistake seemed overly dramatic. isabel is one of them, right? so terribly relatable and free in the way the rest of her family wasn't. she wouldn't lead them to the wrong direction, surely !
public trust, public adoration. isa had it in spades, and no matter how much the political analysts discredited her power and influence, there was no denying it. no one could thoroughly explain it either.
isabel became a constant fixture in her home court, championing the arts and donating generously to the causes she believed in. however, not a single soul outside the family knew that she was being forced her hand. a lifetime of freedom being cashed in through a mixture of imposed guilt and the threat of being cut off — she truly had no choice, isa enjoys her decadent life far too much to strike out on her own.
the second the programme was open, her family wasted no time in sending her straight into the trenches. they know they can control her, they know that they could fully use her to their advantage — they even believed that she could perhaps flutter her lashes in order to gain the subjugation of a few princes that would result in advantageous trade deals.
but isabel is counting down the days, looking keenly for a way out, and perhaps being thrown into the wolves could finally force her to find her own way.
FULL NAME: defne ayçe osmanoğlu
FULL TITLE: şehzade sultana defne ayşe / imperial crown princess defne ayşe
AGE: thirty three
GENDER: cis woman, she / her
STATUS: engaged ( wc to come ! )
MIND & PERSONALITY
LANGUAGES: turkish, arabic, kurdish, greek, english
EDUCATION: bachelor of laws ( LL.B ), koç university
master of laws (LL.M), harvard university
TRAITS: resolute, paranoid, precise, quiet, restrained, brilliant, reliable, sentimental, meticulous
FAMILY
FATHER: sultan mehmed ix selim of türkiye
MOTHER: sultana consort sabiha
SIBLINGS: a few younger siblings tba
HISTORY
defne was born in the reign of her great-grandfather, a proud man who loved her more than life itself. she didn't remember him much, given that he had passed merely a few months after her first birthday. but grandfather had followed suit in his adoration, and many of the more conservative subjects of their country would blame him for removing the male-only primogeniture in favour of absolute primogeniture — making little defne the first future crown princess in turkish history. centuries of brothers murdering brothers whilst women held power in less conspicuous positions were suddenly undone.
she grew up doted upon and loved, even though her parents never shielded her from the criticisms that people might have due to her gender, they've always been constant in telling her why. it was the reason why the closed-mindedness of others never bothered her, nor did it ever made her resentful of the position that she will one day inherit.
growing up in dolmabahçe palace meant she had the absolute best of everything, it was almost impossible for defne to be dim. her intelligence became a point of pride, and even though she was a shy child who grew up into a relatively reserved adult, everyone could be sure that all the words that came out of her mouth are ones that matter. they told her that it would be difficult for her to debate if she wanted to be a lawyer, and even moreso if she decided to continue her education to america — absolutely everyone knew how much the americans love to hear themselves speak ! but defne would smile and assure her family and friends, for it wasn't the volume and conviction of one's speech, it was the content that truly mattered.
she had to learn the hard way that oftentimes that didn't turn out to be the truth.
being in school in america taught her the amount of audacity that leaders must display, it is a necessary evil in order to assert her position, especially considering those who were predisposed to dislike her even from afar. for the first time in her life, defne felt afraid of the throne that awaited her.
it was difficult, for a girl who had big dreams and lofty aspirations to slowly realise that it might be an impossible feat to even attempt. defne grappled with this discomfort alone in her apartment in massachusetts, before allowing her father into her mind during one winter break. soon, long talks became a staple in the end of their weeks, and after her graduation from law school, defne settled fully to an advisory position on her father's side.
she was seen more in istanbul alongside her father, accompanying him to meetings and discussions that once no princess had ever been a part of. defne carpools with him to topkapi palace every day to sit on every single meeting, every single speech writing session, and every engagement within the crown prince's agenda. she became a fixture within the court of governance, studiously listening to all she could. and so, by the time her voice was more heard within meetings, her attendance had no longer felt novel.
defne's engagement was approved and announced on the eve of her 32nd birthday by her grandfather; the sultan. it was not a love match by any means, but he is respectable and had not cower at the thought of not being the head of his own family. she was sure that some semblance of affection will follow through the years, they have the rest of their lives, after all.
unfortunately, the announcement was the last gift her grandfather ever gave her — for her passed not long after due to a sudden, but not unexpected, heart attack. her father ascended as sultan mehmed the ninth, and defne stepped onto the dais of topkapi palace for the first time as the crown princess of türkiye, an heir apparent in her own right, and the world felt all the more heavier upon her shoulders.
the programme came just in time. just enough time after the mourning period of her grandfather had passed, and just enough time to plan and attend her father's coronation ceremony — it was a great sign to the turkish people and its' nobles that had hoped that the absolute primogeniture rule will be overturned. the sultan sent his heir as the turkish delegate for the most important political summit there ever was, and no one could mistake the his intentions.
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