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Prince Lito of Aragon and Navarre had an upbringing different to many other royal children. For starters, King Raul and Queen Consort Sophia divorced when Lito was merely two years old. As the heir to the throne, Lito remained with his father at court while his mother returned to her native Catalan. While his mother married a Catalan Count the following year, she perished shortly after, leaving the King as Lito’s only relation. In some ways, that worked to Lito’s advantage as he was able to do as he pleased, as it was rare that anyone would pay attention to him. He was forced to start learning with a tutor upon his sixth birthday, but his disinterest and poor behavior drove off two tutors in as many years.
Everything changed when Lito was eight. That was the year that King Raul married Marguerite, a young lady of sixteen from a French noble family. Due to the narrow age difference, Marguerite treated Lito more like a younger brother than a son. Lito basked in the attention, and while nothing could actually make him enjoy his studies, Marguerite’s entreaties caused his behavior to improve, and he didn’t drive away his next tutor until shortly after the birth of his brother Tomas.
After ten years of being an only child, Lito did not adjust well to the new baby. Marguerite was still kind and sisterly to Lito, but Tomas took most of her attention. Three years later brought the arrival of Felipe, and Lito drove off three tutors in just as many months.
When Lito was fifteen, Marguerite fell pregnant again, but this time it was believed that this baby was to be a girl. As much as he resented the attention his brothers received, he was looking forward to the prospect of a baby sister. It was also during this time that Lito realized that his engagement to Princess Daniela of Castile was not abstract, but that they would be husband and wife sooner rather than later. While most young men of his age would be delighted, as it appeared that Daniela was going to be even more beautiful than her mother, Lito was dreading the day. For he was in the midst of discovering that the male form was far preferable to him than the female form. Lito liked Daniela as a friend but the thought of having to lay with her to produce an heir was repulsive to him.
One day Lito had returned from a horseback ride, when he noticed one of the stable boys was paying him more attention than was necessary. Lito took a giant risk by kissing him and was pleased when the stable boy kissed him back and then some. After righting his clothing, Lito pressed a few coins into his hand. “For your silence,” Lito explains. As he walks back to the castle, Lito knows that he’ll be visiting the stable boy again despite the risk involved.
When it came time for the new Princess to enter the word, tragedy struck. She did not survive long enough to take her first breath, and the entire castle was in mourning. Lito found himself in the stables more and more often to take his mind off of Little Odette. Most of the stable boys were willing to indulge him, Lito assumed because they knew he would pay them for his silence. Logically, he knows this makes him similar to the men that lay with prostitutes, but he can’t bring himself to care. He also started completely neglecting his studies, causing another yet another tutor to quit, as the man didn’t want to teach an unwilling student, even if he was a future king.
Marguerite obviously was the most affected by losing Odette. While before she was a very hands-on mother for a Queen Consort of two kingdoms, she started leaving Tomas and Felipe’s needs almost entirely to their Governess. As a result, she started spending more and more time with Lito, though her behavior was far different than when he was a young boy. Lito thought it was just the grief at first, but then he realized that his stepmother was attempting to seduce him. He stuttered out a reminder of his betrothal to Daniela and then fled, going straight to his father’s chambers to inquire how soon he can be married. His previous dread over the day is replaced by the hope that Daniela’s presence at court will keep his stepmother’s unwelcome advances at bay.
Unfortunately, per the agreement made by the two kings, the wedding would not be able to occur until after Daniela turned sixteen. As she is two years younger than Lito, that means the wedding is still three years away, for which he has mixed emotions. While he doesn’t mind having three more years before he is forced to lay with Daniela, it also means potentially three more years of unwanted attention from his step-mother.
Even more unfortunately, at least for Lito, is that one other thing could delay the wedding. His reputation for driving off tutors has become well known, and King Luis won’t consent to marrying off his eldest daughter to someone that has not completed their education, even if he is a future king. With Tomas being nearly six years old, King Raul is electing to wait until that time before hiring yet another tutor. This gives Lito a few more months of freedom before being forced back into his studies. The king also gave Lito an ultimatum – if he drives off another tutor, he is finished. Lito sighs dramatically as he resigns himself to being bored out of his mind until he can complete his studies.
And then his father hired Hernando as the new Royal Tutor and Lito’s life was never the same.