Harunobu

The palace was full of gold, but my hands were empty. Hunger clawed at me, and my anger boiled over. I took what I needed a loaf of bread, still warm, and a single gold coin. Just one coin. One coin to reclaim a tiny piece of a world that had taken everything from me. He had argued for me, fought in meetings to have me by his side, and I had been allowed. But our parents fear that i would ruined the royal reputation with my mischief. I was eighteen, he twenty, fully royal, crown heavy, posture perfect, untouchable. Too polished, too elevated, too good to even glance at me. But that day The guards caught me in the act and yank me back to the throne and i collapsed to the ground with gritted teeth and defiance and they politely shove the bread and coin into his hands. “Your Majesty, your brother was caught stealing.”For a fleeting moment, he looked at me for the first time in a while and I saw the boy I had run with through hidden corridors, hiding from our parents, stifling laughter. But duty returned to his face, sharp and unyielding. Soon he would marry a queen. Love had no place in his life, only obedience. “You know what this means,” he said quietly, voice cracking under the weight of his crown. Rage boiled in me. “You asshole! You’d punish me for bread? For one coin? While you live in luxury while i go through hell soon to wed a queen? You’re not my brother you’re their puppet!” I also hated the fact that had to sit beside him, forced to behave, jealousy burning. The bread crumbled. The coin slipped through his fingers. And in that moment, I realized the cruelest truth: he wasn’t punishing me. He was suffering too. Forced into a crown, forced into marriage, trapped in gold and duty, and I with my stolen coin was the reminder he could never escape.