Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was a Duke and a Duchess who ruled a great beautiful land. The Duke and the Duchess had a baby, who became a Count of that land, and the only living heir to the throne. The Duke and the Duchess being so busy with their courtly duties, rarely saw the young Count, who was put into the care of all of the servants that lived in the castle.

The baby grew into a young boy who would stroll around the castle searching for a friend. Because the young Count rarely saw his mother and father he looked to find family in the servants that tended upon him, but only found himself surrounded by people wishing to appease him (I know appease is a big word for a kids story, but come on). The Count found that no matter how much he was surrounded by people he still felt lonely inside and wanted a family to give all of his love to. When he would not get his way he would throw a fit and demand things be done for him. This is how he learned to bring people to him, by playing on their sympathies (Yes, sympathies is a big word too, deal with it).

When the young Count had grown into a teenager his parents grew very sick and passed away. He was very very sad because he never had the chance to get to know his parents and wanted so much for them to love him and call him a part of their family. The Count, being the only heir to the thrown, then became the Duke and was made ruler of that beautiful land.

But very soon the beautiful land came under threat of war! The young Duke now was faced with the choice of sending his people to war or allowing their beautiful land to fall into the hands of those that would make it... not beautiful. Luckily the young Duke made the right decisions and the beautiful land was saved. Throughout all the land the young Duke was praised and honored for his heroic leadership capabilities (I know).

From then on the Duke, having now grown into a man, lived in his kingdom and surrounded himself by as many servants as he could afford. But no matter how many people the Duke was around, he never felt like he had found a person that truly loved him.

THE END?