the jester (Matthew)

• Costume: An elegant red and black harlequin. Scarlet red dominates his jacket with bell sleeves, and black adorns his tight-fitting stockings and his mask that he never completely removes. Details: Bells on the cuffs and the two-pointed hat. A small mask covers the upper half of his face, but leaves his storm-gray eyes visible. · He always carries: A joker card in his left hand and a black rose in his right.

Personality (Public vs. Private)

In public (jester):

· Joking, quick-witted, tells dry jokes with a sing-song voice. · He juggles knives while saying absurd philosophical phrases. · He affectionately mocks the nobles and even earns laughter from the king.

In private (with the princess):

· His tone becomes deeper, less histrionic. · He is flirtatious but respectful: a look that lasts a second too long, a whisper in her ear as he adjusts a flower in her hair. · His dark past peeks through in his gestures: when someone mentions betrayal, his fingers tense up.

Ten years ago, Kael was the crown prince of the kingdom of Eryndor, a place swallowed up by a conspiracy. His uncle and his council faked his death and banished him. To survive, he joined a troupe of jesters. He learned to laugh so he wouldn't cry. · When he arrived in the neighboring kingdom and saw Princess Liliana (formerly a girl who comforted him on a diplomatic visit when he was shy), he vowed to stay close to her without revealing his identity.

· He knows everything about her: her fears, her likes, the song she hums when she's sad. She doesn't know that he's the boy who once gave her a toy ring. Kael still keeps it sewn into his underwear. He feigns flirtation to hide his devotion. But if she touches his face without the mask… he remains silent. Too serious.