Second Prince Vadd - Tumblr Posts
Okay, well if this is the place to put our AUs of the Second Prince getting closer to Penelope, then here’s mine: for whatever reason (maybe because he is still technically descended from the Golden Dragon?) the Second Prince remembers the time loops. I’d like to preface this by saying that this is less “Second Prince falling in love with Penelope” and more “they become friends but everyone else assumes they’re in a romantic relationship.”
The very first one he experienced was after Penelope died at her coming of age celebration and Callisto goes mad, killing the rest of the Imperial Family. And for all the rumors about Callisto’s brutality, all his mother’s stories about his savage ways and how unfit he is for the throne…the Second Prince doesn’t see a monster when Callisto goes to kill him.
Just a man, finally broken by grief and hopelessness.
Of course, this realization makes the Second Prince very uncomfortable, having been raised to see Callisto as a lunatic. So it’ll take a couple more loops before the Second Prince actually starts to try to look past all the rumors about his brother and see the man. Once he does, and realizes how messed up the Second Queen and Emperor’s treatment of him is, he starts trying to help Callisto in subtle ways (anonymously tipping off Callisto or one of his people about an upcoming assassination attempt, maybe taking on more work so Callisto doesn’t have to deal with so much, etc.) After Callisto meets Penelope in the garden maze, the Second Prince even starts leaving romance novels for Callisto to read since he does remember hearing about his brother’s awful attempts at courting in that first loop lol.
I’m thinking he stays for the Hunting Competition, tries to sabotage the assassination (maybe he only manages to switch out the poison for something that has a well-known antidote? I dunno) but the trial still ultimately happens. He speaks up for Penelope instead of Vinter. Afterwards, when Penelope thanks him for his help, he slips up as they talk and confirms that he remembers the time loops. Penelope is shocked that someone else remembers. They start to share their experiences with each other during Penelope’s stay at the palace (and he is horrified at just how many loops Penelope has lived through). They start planning on how to deal with Leila, but now rumors are flying about how Penelope must have broken up with the Crown Prince to be with his brother. I imagine that Cedric would probably tell Callisto when he’s still pretending to be asleep to get sympathy from Penny, and he just bolts out of that room like “NOT ON MY WATCH.”
That’s all I have for now and this got so long, I’m so sorry
Headcanon #39
[Attention! Non-standard Relationships! The Second Prince/Penelope Eckart] Σ(°ロ°)
After Callisto's return to the empire, the Queen is desperately trying to figure out how to strengthen her position in the palace and elevate her son in the eyes of the nobility. But perfect military campaigns and unquestioning execution of the emperor's orders ruin all her plans to expose the Crown Prince in an awkward light and deprive him of the status of heir.
The Queen decides to take a risky step - to lure Duke Eckart to her side. She understands perfectly well that the Duke will adhere to neutrality, ignore any provocations and take his position, regardless of either side. But this "shield" had a small flaw -the Duke's adopted daughter. There were many rumors about her, and the Crown Prince was head over heels in love with her.
The Queen ordered her son to make a Penelope fall in love. Thereby creating a reason why the Duke would be forced to go over to her side and protect his daughter from the unrequited Crown Prince, who would fall into a deep rage if he found out that the woman he fell in love with had gone to brother.
The Second Prince wants to play with Penelope's heart. He had enough favorites and ladies with whom he dated, so he was sure that a woman like Penelope would instantly melt from his charms. But here's the bad luck - she didn't care about him, his gifts and flirting.
Every time he tried to start a conversation with her and translate it from official to unofficial, Penelope easily waved him off and left.
Not only anger and petty capriciousness grew in the Prince, but also curiosity. Gradually, he begins to fall in love and change, that is, to grow up, leaving the image of a mama's son. He begins to argue with the Queen and tries to take care of Penelope, thereby coming into conflict with Callisto.
Oh, I adore this entirely. And it seems our brains were working on the same track in a few places lol.
I actually really love the idea that people start to see more and more of Callisto in Theodore (I think that’s the perfect name for him actually, it’s pretty cute). I think it would be funnier if Theodore mostly did it unintentionally though. Like, he’s taking on his brother as a role model of sorts, and so starts to unconsciously copy some of Callisto’s mannerisms. Talking to a nobel that’s either being rude, or he just doesn’t like? Theodore will give a smile that’s really more of a mocking smirk. Not quite as vicious as Callisto, but the resemblance is there. He’s very unimpressed with something someone just said? He’ll tilt his head just so and raise an eyebrow, silently judging you. (Bonus points if Callisto ends up doing the same thing to the same person, and everyone around them is like, “Oh you know you’ve messed up if the Crown Prince and Second Prince actually agree on how stupid you’re being.”)
It would be hilarious if Theodore manages to get his hands on one of Callisto’s letters to Penelope, and just goes “You call this flirting?” He argues with Callisto about how to properly go about writing a romantic letter, and manages to convince Callisto to make some changes to the letter. Unfortunately, it somehow ends up sounding even more ominous and threatening, and Penelope is wondering what she could have possibly done to irritate the Crown Prince in this time loop.
As for Marquis Allen attempting to slap Theodore, I had a similar scenario in my head between the Second Queen and Theodore. She’s upset at her son for becoming so distant with her, maybe she even suspects him of having sabotaged some of the assassins. And she’s screaming at him, demanding to know why he’s doing all this, doesn’t he know they can’t allow Callisto to take the throne, heartless monster that he is—?
Callisto had been walking by, and had hidden himself away when her heard the Second Queen ranting, listening in. He’s absolutely shocked at what his brother replies: “A monster? Have you ever stopped to consider that he was once a child too? A child that you could not even find it within yourself to tolerate, and so you tried to have him murdered. No, Callisto was not born a monster, mother. He’s merely grown into the monster you’ve forced him to become.”
Dead silence for a few moments. Callisto doesn’t know what to make of Theodore’s defense of him, but is startled out of his stunned reverie when he hears the sound of a slap. He walks into view of the Second Queen with her hand raised, breathing heavy with the force of her rage…and his little brother with a red mark on his cheek, head still turned to the side and blinking in shock.
Callisto is furious, because that’s his little brother, and when the Queen reaches for Theodore again, Callisto is suddenly right there, her wrist gripped in his hand. “I don’t think so,” Callisto says quietly.
Callisto is quick to get him and Theodore away from the Second Queen, and they go to his palace. Some brotherly bonding ensues. Meanwhile, the Second Queen is convinced that Callisto has been brainwashing Theodore somehow, so when Marquis Allen proposes allying themselves with the Leila cultists, she doesn’t hesitate in saying yes.
Headcanon #39
[Attention! Non-standard Relationships! The Second Prince/Penelope Eckart] Σ(°ロ°)
After Callisto's return to the empire, the Queen is desperately trying to figure out how to strengthen her position in the palace and elevate her son in the eyes of the nobility. But perfect military campaigns and unquestioning execution of the emperor's orders ruin all her plans to expose the Crown Prince in an awkward light and deprive him of the status of heir.
The Queen decides to take a risky step - to lure Duke Eckart to her side. She understands perfectly well that the Duke will adhere to neutrality, ignore any provocations and take his position, regardless of either side. But this "shield" had a small flaw -the Duke's adopted daughter. There were many rumors about her, and the Crown Prince was head over heels in love with her.
The Queen ordered her son to make a Penelope fall in love. Thereby creating a reason why the Duke would be forced to go over to her side and protect his daughter from the unrequited Crown Prince, who would fall into a deep rage if he found out that the woman he fell in love with had gone to brother.
The Second Prince wants to play with Penelope's heart. He had enough favorites and ladies with whom he dated, so he was sure that a woman like Penelope would instantly melt from his charms. But here's the bad luck - she didn't care about him, his gifts and flirting.
Every time he tried to start a conversation with her and translate it from official to unofficial, Penelope easily waved him off and left.
Not only anger and petty capriciousness grew in the Prince, but also curiosity. Gradually, he begins to fall in love and change, that is, to grow up, leaving the image of a mama's son. He begins to argue with the Queen and tries to take care of Penelope, thereby coming into conflict with Callisto.
I get what you’re saying, and those are very good points! When this AU popped into my head, that first scene I talked about where Callisto has come to kill his brother, but Theodore can’t really see a monster in that moment, was just so vivid in my mind, I guess I became more focused on platonic/familial relationships. But yeah, Theodore having a crush on Penelope would be the most likely driving factor for his character growth.
Maybe after a few time loops in which Callisto and Penelope become close but she dies in some way and Callisto goes on a rampage, Theodore decides to find out everything he can about her. What about this woman, this commoner masquerading as the daughter of a duke, could possibly drive his brother to repeated madness? Theodore watches and observes Penelope whenever she shows up at an event at the Imperial Palace. And he notices just how lonely she is.
She is ostracized by society, hated by her family, she had to scream to be heard and yet still she is dismissed as nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum. Theodore looks into what past incidents he can involving her, and finds that she was usually just defending herself, yet she was always blamed. Not a Mad Dog, but a girl who was thrown into a pool of sharks and told to deal with it herself.
Theodore has to stop his investigation for a little while because he keeps making connections, in the back of his mind, between Callisto and Penelope and how they were treated and how unfair it was, and he’s not quite ready to confront the truth he’s just starting to realize about his brother.
Maybe Theodore starts staying for the Hunting Competition throughout all the time loops afterwards to try and talk to Penelope? Especially since he remembers that she did stay in the palace after Callisto was poisoned. This is probably where he starts to fall in love.
However, as he gets to know Penelope and she tells him about her abuse, he becomes angry on her behalf. He’s ranting about that’s not right to treat a child with such cruelty, and Penelope goes quiet. When he finally notices and asks what’s wrong, she tells him, “You see how awfully I’ve been treated and are furious in my behalf…yet you feel nothing for your own brother, who’s gone through similar experiences? And for far longer than me.”
Theodore is stunned into silence. Because there it was, the truth he had tried to deny, to run from, thrown into his face.
Penelope seems to see something in his eyes, because she nods and starts to leave. Before she does, though, she gives him a piece of advice: “Never fear a monster. Fear what created it instead.”
Theodore thinks and reflects on what she said for a long time afterward. He starts to accept that he doesn’t really know anything about his brother. That is was beyond unfair that he judged Callisto so harshly without trying to speak two words to him. I imagine Theodore might try to investigate some of the incidents Callisto has been in involving assassins being sent after him. Perhaps he even discovers what really happened during the bear incident, because I highly doubt the Second Queen ever told him the truth when she still needed him to be scared of Callisto. This would probably lead to one last time loop, in which Theodore starts trying to make amends with Callisto.
Penelope telling Theodore not to fear monsters is based on Nikita Gill’s poem, “The Truth About Monsters.”
Headcanon #39
[Attention! Non-standard Relationships! The Second Prince/Penelope Eckart] Σ(°ロ°)
After Callisto's return to the empire, the Queen is desperately trying to figure out how to strengthen her position in the palace and elevate her son in the eyes of the nobility. But perfect military campaigns and unquestioning execution of the emperor's orders ruin all her plans to expose the Crown Prince in an awkward light and deprive him of the status of heir.
The Queen decides to take a risky step - to lure Duke Eckart to her side. She understands perfectly well that the Duke will adhere to neutrality, ignore any provocations and take his position, regardless of either side. But this "shield" had a small flaw -the Duke's adopted daughter. There were many rumors about her, and the Crown Prince was head over heels in love with her.
The Queen ordered her son to make a Penelope fall in love. Thereby creating a reason why the Duke would be forced to go over to her side and protect his daughter from the unrequited Crown Prince, who would fall into a deep rage if he found out that the woman he fell in love with had gone to brother.
The Second Prince wants to play with Penelope's heart. He had enough favorites and ladies with whom he dated, so he was sure that a woman like Penelope would instantly melt from his charms. But here's the bad luck - she didn't care about him, his gifts and flirting.
Every time he tried to start a conversation with her and translate it from official to unofficial, Penelope easily waved him off and left.
Not only anger and petty capriciousness grew in the Prince, but also curiosity. Gradually, he begins to fall in love and change, that is, to grow up, leaving the image of a mama's son. He begins to argue with the Queen and tries to take care of Penelope, thereby coming into conflict with Callisto.
Second Prince: I mean, you’ve threatened to kill me a bunch of times. You once told me you were going to drown me in a river like a kangaroo.
Callisto: *warm laugh of fond reminiscence* I did do that.