chapter 1_THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN

The steel bones in my chest pressed tightly and pains ran through my ribs, making every breath feel like a struggle. I had grown used to the pain, but this morning, something felt different. It felt like a warning.I sucked in a shallow, controlled breath through my teeth, letting the cold morning air of the Blue Mountains sting the back of my throat. Every single fiber of my muscles rebelled, screaming under the unnatural compression, but I didn’t have the luxury of comfort. Comfort was a civilian word, a luxury reserved for those who weren’t living a lie that could get them killed before the sun even rose above the trees.Breathe through the pain, Kael, I told myself, staring into the cracked brass-framed mirror of my austere quarters at Apex Academy. Just breathe.To the rest of the Sovereign Court of Australia, I was Crown Prince Kael the unyielding, razor-sharp heir to the throne, a war machine forged in iron and silence. They watched me with a toxic mixture of terrified awe

Last Updated : 2026-09-09

chapter 2_The Golden Cage

The morning bell at Apex Academy didn’t just ring; it severed the remaining threads of my peace with a cold, metallic clang that vibrated straight through my teeth.I stood in the second row of the senior group, keeping my back straight the way I had been taught since I was little.Around me, four hundred students in identical obsidian-and-silver uniforms shifted like a restless, dark-feathered sea. Yet, as the quiet rippled outward from the grand dais, the sea parted. Not physically nobody dared break formation but the sheer weight of collective gaze shifted entirely onto my back.I didn't turn around. I had learned weeks ago that turning was an“showing weakness.”, an invitation for Malachi's silent correction. Instead, I stared straight ahead at the polished marble floor, watching the distorted reflection of the vaulted glass ceiling above."Silence," Headmaster Vance’s voice boomed through the hall, devoid of warmth, echoing off limestone walls that felt less like a seat of learn

Last Updated : 2026-09-09

chapter 3_Amber Eyes in the Dark

The lime dust of the stone courtyard always tasted like old copper and crushed dry bone by the second hour of drill. Today, it coated the back of my throat until every breath felt like dragging a fistful of gravel across my ribs.Around us, the outer ring of the garrison cadets had already stopped their routine pairing. Swords hit the rack with dull, iron-heavy clangs. Wooden training staves were tossed into the bins. The murmurs died down the moment Instructor Vane dragged the iron-shod end of his staff across the paving stones, signaling the shift from general drills to the rotation trials.My skin was already slick, uniform damp and clinging too tight to my collarbones, but the chill in the air didn't care about sweat. High mountain wind rolled over the crenellations of the wall, carrying the sharp scent of pine and horse sweat from the lower stables."Kael," Vane barked, his voice flat and notched like a notched blade. "Step into the center. You’ve been leaning on your left hip

Last Updated : 2026-09-09

chapter 4_The Spymaster's Game

The high vaulted windows of the upper archives smelled of dry parchment, stale lamp oil, and centuries of forgotten ink. It was the only place in the entire garrison academy where the brutal weight of the courtyard drills felt entirely removed, replaced instead by a suffocating, hushed silence that pressed against the eardrums. Outside, the rain had started, pattering a steady, frantic rhythm against the thick leaded glass panes like fingertips drumming on a coffin lid.My right shoulder still throbbed with a dull, persistent ache beneath my wool tunic a direct souvenir from Vance’s heavy-handed takedown earlier that afternoon in the limestone yard. Every time I reached across the long oak table to turn a heavy calfskin page, the bruised muscle twitched in protest, reminding me of how close I had come to breaking apart entirely under his gaze.I pulled the current ledger closer to the candlelight. The records for the eastern border levies were messy, filled with cross-referenced nam

Last Updated : 2026-09-09

chapter 5_ Blood in the Blue Mountains

The fog in the Blue Mountains didn’t roll in; it hung like wet wool, choking the gaps between the blue-grey eucalyptus trunks until the rest of the cadet column vanished twenty paces ahead. Every breath tasted of crushed aromatic leaves, damp earth, and the faint, coppery tang of my own fatigue. My left shoulder was still a knot of bruised heat from Vance’s takedown yesterday, and Locke’s terrifyingly sharp words in the archives still hummed in the marrow of my bones."Keep your intervals tight!" Instructor Vane’s voice cut through the gray mist from somewhere up ahead, muffled and hollow. "The ridge narrows for the next mile. If you drift into the scrub, you deserve whatever the timber-wolves use to clean their teeth."Nobody laughed. By the third week of border patrol maneuvers, everyone knew the Blue Mountains didn't care about royal insignia or academy ranks.I kept my head down, boots sliding slightly on the wet leaf litter, my fingers locked hard around the ash-wood shaft of

Last Updated : 2026-09-09

All Chapters of THE PRINCESS THEY RAISED AS A PRINCE : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

chapter 1_THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN

chapter 2_The Golden Cage

chapter 3_Amber Eyes in the Dark

chapter 4_The Spymaster's Game

chapter 5_ Blood in the Blue Mountains