The Chosen Prince

Masquerade

Soma is a 17-year-old Prince of Bengal, the 10th child of Raja Aarush and Rani Estaa with emerald eyes and long plum-coloured hair was practising Silambam (an Indian weapon base martial arts) with his18-year-old personal khansamah and best friend Kalpen, both Soma and Kalpen think alike and are very similar to one another. He is also very skilled at tarot reading, most of the servants and members of the royal family ask him to tell them what's in store for their own future. That afternoon one of the palace servants came in "Your highness, your mother and father wish to see you in the throne room at this very moment." "What do they want with me?" asked Soma "I don't know. But we'll soon find out," answered Kalpen as they approached the doors of the throne room.

"Ah there you are my son," said Aarush as Soma and Kalpen approached the Raja and Rani. They stopped right in front of them and bowed "You wished to see me?" asked Soma "Soma, your father and I have something to tell you," said Estaa. Soma and Kalpen exchanged looks of surprise "The King and Queen of England are inviting you and Kalpen to take part in the selection in hopes that their daughter, Princess Catherine, would choose you as her husband," said Estaa. Soma was shocked to hear that he and Kalpen were invited to come to England to take part in the selection "What is the selection?" asked Soma "When a female heir to the throne of a certain country reaches their sixteenth year of life on this earth, members of royal and noble families are invited to attend the selection in hopes that they will be chosen as a husband or wife. And now it's your turn to take part in the selection," explained Aarush "Your older brothers went through the same thing. Sent them off to the selection taking place in other countries. And the same reason was the same for older sisters when they had theirs here," said Estaa "What about you two? Did you two fall in love when you were selected?" asked Soma "As a matter of fact when your mother was sixteen years old, I attended her selection. We became friends, she chose me, and we got married and love followed after. And the same thing will happen to you," answered Aarush."Enough discussion for now. Princess Catherine's birthday is in six months from tomorrow. And you and Kalpen will be leaving for England by ship tomorrow morning," said Estaa. Soma and Kalpen bowed and said "Yes, your majesties," and left the throne room.

Later that night Soma invited Kalpen to sleep in his bedchamber "What do you think will happen when we arrive in England?" asked Soma "I can honestly say that I do not know, your highness. But all we can do is hope that the princess might choose you," answered Kalpen. Soma lay on his bed for a long while, until he sat straight up with an idea that he just formed in his head "I've got an idea!" exclaimed Soma and Kalpen looked at Soma with a surprised expression on his face "What is it?" he asked "Why don't we switch places?" asked Soma "You want me to pretend to be you while you pretend to be me?" asked Kalpen "Yes, that's the idea. In order for me to get to know the princess as a person, I should pretend to be you instead of me," answered Soma "You do know that we'll be risking a life sentence in England if someone finds out," said Kalpen "Yes I know. But I think that in order for anyone to fall in love I should get to know the princess for who she really is as a person, not who she is as a princess," said Soma "We may be risking everything. And the only country that has seen portraits of you as you are now is this country, as from when you reached ten years old; your parents stopped sending portraits of you to other royalties and nobilities, no other country knows what you look like now. So let's do this," said Kalpen "I am so happy that you've agreed to do this. So before the ship docks in England we'll change our clothes and swap our names" said Soma "Your highness, before we turn ourselves in for the night perhaps we could see what the future holds for you?" asked Kalpen "I suppose so," answered Soma. Kalpen went down to the servant's quarters, entered his room, took out a deck of tarot cards and returned to Soma's bedchamber, shuffled the cards and spread them out. Soma picked three cards and handed them over to Kalpen and placed them in front of Soma before turning them over to reveal the cards that Soma picked: