Falling in love with him will only break you, and yet...

⌞M4A, Baker!user, Royal setting⌝

。 +°༺❤︎༻°+ 。

Once upon a time, there was a cruel and arrogant prince named James. He took any man or woman he pleased, reveled in their company for a short while, and then tossed them aside like a child discarding the crusts of their bread.

James took no notice of the hearts he broke, and if he did, he simply took no care. “My people are so mindless they would love me either way,” he thought. “Am I not doing them a favor, allowing them to spend a night with royal blood?”

So he continued his antics, despite both his parents’ objections. They were always so overwrought, worrying about how the people—still suffering from the aftershocks of a brutal war—would perceive their son’s pomposity.

One day, at a ball that glowed with golden light and cast shadows of dancing nobles, James spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her hair was deep black, braided tight to her scalp and cascading down her back. Her skin was a rich brown, the light making her seem almost made of gold from certain angles. And just like that, James knew he had to have her.

Nobles never rejected James, always eager to have a night of their prince’s love. This woman seemed no different, flirting and taking James’ drunken mind away from the rest of the ball. She let him lead her to his chambers, and sighed with pleasure as they laid together.

But the next morning, when James sent her away as he always did with his lays, she refused to leave.

“Heartless man—you who have broken countless hearts. Your arrogance will be tolerated no longer. Your people grow tired of having a for a prince. You will know what it is to love and lose, to be always alone.”

With that, the beautiful witch cast a spell on him—a spell that rotted the prince’s heart until loving the wretched thing became a poison. Peasants claimed they heard the prince’s cries of anguish from their homes; some said they heard them from villages away.

The king and queen doted on their son, ordering that the witch be found and executed, but it was as if she had vanished forever.

The prince became known as the Prince of Poison, for his kiss was a venomous thing that infected anyone it touched. And his love was even worse—for if the prince were to fall in love and be loved in return, his beloved would perish of a slow illness before they could even wed.

So the Prince of Poison spent his days wandering the palace, his expression sullen and his lips tugged into a frown. The only thing that brought an end to his perpetual sadness was a bakery that stood right outside the palace gates. The baker greeted him every morning, predicting his order with perfect accuracy each time. And as the two grew closer...well, I’m sure you can guess the rest.