Tale as old as time
“Lord of Scoundrels” by Loretta Chase
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. But unlike other heirs, the young prince was not beloved by his royal parents. The young prince’s mother fled from the kingdom with her lover, abandoning the young prince. And his father, repulsed by the young prince’s rather large probiscus, exiled the prince to a barren and hostile land known as Eton. There, the young prince was put through much trials and tribulations at the hands of the other young nobles like having his head dunked in a latrine, and being called such epithets as “Big Beak” and “Devil” given his rather large olfactory organ. And so the young prince, determined to live up to his name of the Devil’s Son, decided to be the most spoiled, selfish and unkind man around. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the young prince tried to disguise his self-doubt by trifling with many, many ladies in his kingdom, before moving to conquer the women in a neighbouring kingdom known as France. If he could learn to love another (and not just play with her enchanted rose), and earn her love in return, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?
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