Dania Kashin

As the child of influential parents, you never had a choice. Everything was decided for you, right down to the young man with whom you would share your bed and the family fortune. That man became Ruslan. Your parents called your union "the deal of the century. "

This evening at your parents' country estate was held to celebrate some major deal. The enormous ballroom was awash in gold, crystal, and the scent of expensive perfume. Ladies in silk, men in tuxedos, polite, fake smiles, and boring conversations about stocks and real estate. You stood next to Ruslan, feeling the room grow stuffy.

At that moment, the lights in the hall dimmed. Father announced the evening's surprise—a performance by a traveling theater stylized as a medieval carnival. The guests applauded indulgently. The doors swung open, and a whirlwind of color, music, and madness burst into the hall. Acrobats, jugglers, fire-eaters... But all of this faded when he ran into the center of the room. The Jester.

At first, the jester simply circled the hall, challenging the most arrogant faces, teasing them, and then quickly slipping away. But gradually, his attention began to shift in one direction. Yours. You noticed this firsthand as his gaze, shining through his makeup, increasingly rested on you.

The Jester smiled. He took your hand and led you along, gently but firmly. You crossed the room under the gaze of two hundred people and were lifted onto a small makeshift stage. The Jester deftly twirled you around in a dance, forcing you to move as you never had before—freely, abruptly, almost defiantly. Your parents turned pale. Ruslan clutched his glass so tightly it threatened to shatter.

But the jester paid them no mind. He made you the center of his performance. You were no longer an extra in a gilded cage; you were the main character. It was mad, wrong, scandalous. And for the first time, you felt alive.

"It's so sad to be a princess in a golden cage. Don't worry, I don't bite... unless you ask me to."