possessions. The moon was reflected in the waters of the lake, making them beautiful and mysterious.
The fairy tale of the night began here, by the transparent lake, and continued in the royal palace, and it was magically beautiful, like the witchcraft of nature itself.
The palace was magnificent. Previously, Diana was its mistress, but now another beautiful princess overshadowed her fabulous beauty and shone with her charm in the castle at night by the swan lakes that spilled far, far, beyond this embraced dark night of the country.
Today all gentlemen and noble ladies have gathered in the throne room. Fulfilling the last will of her parents, the young princess had to get married and take the crown of the mistress of this country. All the noble nobles who had gathered here regretted this in advance, the little princess was so beautiful that it was simply impossible not to fall in love with her.
She stood at the throne, in a lush ball gown, its folds rustling in the gloomy silence. Odette was a ray of light even in this night and sparkled with her unique beauty. It would be difficult to find a girl more beautiful than she, and Richard knew this, knew that his love had become his curse.
There were so many girls in the world, both accessible and sympathetic, and he, as if in a terrible dream, doomed himself to eternal torment, fell in love with a young princess and could not forget his love. All will be lost tonight. She will marry another, and he will never have hope. He was afraid and could not confess his love to her.
Now anxiety and fear were fighting in him, if he did not have the courage, he would remain unhappy for his whole life. Yes, besides, Odette herself did not want to get married, she did not know her fiancé and was still quite a child, but he loved her as much as he could only love the one who was called the best knight in the world.
He fought duels, won wars, fought like the noblest of all, and now he was overtaken by a mad infatuation with the one that was supposed to go to the royal throne, not him. Richard looked at Odette’s sweet face, how he loved her, even so cold and unapproachable to human feelings, but only she was his love, beautiful as a white swan and cold as dispassion itself.
No one should have known what was in the heart of the invincible knight, that he was suffering from a criminal love for the one who was to become his queen in the future. He looked at her delicate features and swore to himself that he would never yield her to any prince, not to one of the most powerful king in the world, no, he would fight for his love.
Richard squeezed Odette’s hand, and she gave him a sad look. Since her parents died, he has been her only and most faithful friend in the world. She was attached to him much more than to some prince, whom she had never even seen in her life.
A knight in luxurious robes entered the hall with a quick gait, Odette recognized him, this was the most noble and wealthy lord from the retinue of her unknown groom. He bowed politely, But Richard looked at him full of hatred and smiled slyly, he was not going to give up his happiness to the first person he met, even if it was the prince of the richest country.
`` It’s time to start, «» he said dryly, `` where is His Highness now, or has he forgotten about his own wedding, but I swear I will do everything to prevent it from happening, «» he boldly declared right in the face of his enemy, who, however, was afraid to answer him, because all the kingdoms knew the valor and courage of Richard.
«Oh, I’m sure he…» the lord drawled, but he himself did not know what to say, «I’m sure that His Highness is now delayed due to the fact that he sat for too long surrounded by his books.»
This lie succeeded, and the lord sighed with relief, but to be honest, he himself did not know where Prince Etienne was spending his time. He has already sent his people, a whole convoy, to search for his unlucky and windy master.
In the tavern, noise and commotion reigned, one could hardly find a noisier place, and although this did not befit his royal person and upset his mother, Etienne was sitting at one of the tables, next to the wine, of course, the lord could call any place a library. but now Etienne himself did not know where he was. Some kind of drunken brawl, in which both sides were crippled and bruised, several bottles of wine and the coquetry of those who were called the most accessible girls, and Etienne even forgot that he was a prince, how could he remember about his own wedding.
«Etienne,» ran up to him his faithful friend Fritz, who often covered him before the wrath of the queen and even the late father, «Etienne, I beg you, let’s go from here.»
The prince only grabbed his head with his hand. The wine he had drunk made itself felt, and he became completely drunk, and, moreover, he was again drawn into a fight. It was full of those whom he considered his enemies.. The prince proved his bravery in a rather unusual way, fighting with drunks, playing and drinking. Unfortunately for the parents, their handsome son only did what he dragged around the taverns, drank, swore and played. But it was worth noting that this required more courage than even entering the battlefield.
«Hey, you,» Etienne shouted to one of the drunken, tall and powerful pub-goers. As Fritz did not try to restrain him, he threw himself into a fight and almost killed his rival. The latter’s friends arrived in time. Etienne received several cuts and countless blows before being thrown out of the tavern with a friend. Everyone was comforted in their own way, and Fritz prayed to God that no one would find out where they were that night. He dragged the prince past other drunks, with whom Etienne immediately tried to start a fight. He still managed to pull his friend out of danger, but even the fresh air could not sober the intoxicated head of his young comrade, about whom, however, one could say that he was the bravest prince of all who came before him.
He did not even remember about any princess and the wedding. The girls didn’t bother him. Their beauty did not evoke hot feelings in him, which, however, woke up in him during fights and drunken skirmishes. His mother, the queen, tried many times to re-educate her very handsome and even more unlucky son, but all this ended in complete failure, and Etienne returned to dice and fights with strangers.
But today everything should have been different, it had not yet struck midnight when the knights from the king’s personal guard broke into the roadside tavern, was it worth describing the commotion they caused among drunks and ladies of easy virtue, although they were looking for only one person in this place but he was the hardest to find.
The head of the guard, inwardly, mercilessly cursed the fate that had brought him to such a place, but he was a determined person and was going to carry out everything to the end, although it turned out to be even more difficult than he had expected.
Their task was to get the young prince out of the pub and bring him to his own wedding, while not allowing him to get drunk or fall asleep, the queen has long tried by all means to do this, but, in the end, more experienced people had to be brought in here. who, however, were themselves a little afraid. After all, who did not know how well their crown prince could fight for his life.
If his father remained alive, who could always bring him to his senses, but, alas, he died, and there was no one to watch over his unlucky son. No firm hand could any longer hold back the frantic impulses of his young heart. It would seem that such a handsome man as he could not behave in this way. The prince was beautiful, all the girls admitted it, but he didn’t care about them. He did not even want to know about some kind of princess Odette, who was chosen for him as his bride, he did not care about her. He did not yet know that she, too, remained indifferent to this choice made by others for her.
Soon the tavern was in complete disorder, but the knights could not find
