IMPS prince 2 (Patreon)

some info on the royals. in reality they aren't traditional royalty, but closest to an oligarchy of many families representative of large areas of the empire.  these families are under tough competition and roles are given to the highest bidder. its rife with plots, strategy, and work.  they developed a culture in the high court (the families representatives of the empire's people)

because there is no head or one true king, there's many 'kings' especially with their polygamous nature. the rule for the upper class is to have a unit of 2 males and 2 females for the prospect of 4 unique bloodlines. its the most efficient, and this efficiency is present in other places. from the extreme structure of tattoos, design and placement, to familial roles, and expectations of jobs. if you fall behind, you are at risk of having status ripped from you, and even your tattoos themselves. its oppressive in some areas. especially things like administration and military. there are princes with no real title, who, are only still in the household due to their siblings. the third young prince is one of them, they are coveted by the eldest, a very promising, powerful, heavy hitting, figure in the higher forms of government. ramsi is aspiring to be head of military affairs, and if not, the second best, a commander below the head. he is already in succession of his household, with enough accolades to make his position clear. due to being such a figure, he can care for his siblings, even if they are not fit for the standards of the high court. its likely that demure wont receive any outstanding title or position, but being the sibling of ramsi, it is guaranteed that their life will be generous.  

ramsi already is married, with 3 mates soon to live in his household, as he is ordained the head of the unit. these mates were chosen based partially to how they treat demure, since he will not accept any partner that will mistreat his siblings. 

demure is currently fiance-less, and is of age to look for potential partners, as despite not having a title, demure is still from a good family, and bloodlines are important to the high-court. there are many families trying to get into the good graces of ramsi and of the elders in the household, by trying to either ask for demure to go into their family, or give them theirs. 

there was a small story where demure was in their quarters, coming back from their outing with the pink imp in secret, and was alerted to a visiter. this visister was a boisterous and prideful imp, who thinks he can take advantage of demure's gentle nature.  but demure was already uninterested. the imp essentially wants to become fiances for political gain, and tried to guilt trip demure into accepting, you know, to 'not disappoint his brother who has been caring for him for so long. ' 'finally be useful and side with me' type of stick. but demure may be a soft person, but they aren't stupid.  they ask seemingly odd questions, like do you even know your servant's name, have you gone to the outskirts and hung with the people your supposed to lead? what do you when a servant makes a mistake? what does demure like? what is their favorite color?  what do they (visitor) want to do in life given the position they want to achieve? what's the purpose? it gets progressively more invasive till demure just ends it with, 'these tactics of yours spell that you don't have enough gall to make your goals attainable in the slightest, if you can't even answer these questions.' demure was attacking the visitor's character, philosophy, and morals, even their feelings as whole. 

demure may not have lofty aspirations, but atleast they have an idea of what they want to be. (a low position that gains them access to talk to the people directly, form personal connections to villages, and report and even fix those issues at a small scale) (demure is very disillusioned with the high court, and knows they don't want to engage in heavy nebulous politics, so instead ramsi and more capable ones can do that, while they can enjoy a quieter life of work) the pink imp, whether knowingly or not, taught demure many philosophies in practice that occur not only in the pink imps' village, but the other villages that talk amongst each other. many practicalities of life, labor, and administration. things like punishment, honesty, rules, and empathy. just pink imp talking about their life and all little events that happen past and present, these give demure a personal insight to the goings of the people that they always envisioned in the abstract, through the teachings and books of professors and authors who they themselves, were taught the same. 

in another case, demure is also a target amongst the jealous families, knowing hoe ramsi cares for them, and many attempts were made to foil that relationship, even attempts at demure's life. but that was under the assumption that demure was far too delicate and naive, making it 'easy' take them out, given they can get past through their lands and reach demure in the first place. demure is intelligent enough to see these things, and act accordingly, alongside the immense wall that is ramsi itself. 

also another scene is when demure was talking to their servant about household affairs and their outings, they nonchalantly check the food and glass for poison with their fingers, the tattoos on their tips will glow if detecting a hostile concoction. the biggest reason demure got some tattoos on their hands, mostly on the ends of their fingers, was as a defense permissed by ramsi, who urged for this. protection tattoos are given a different purpose to typical tattoos, and they usually shouldn't be big. for the high court, these are done by a tattooist versed in magic, specifically a spiritual and medicinal profession. its hard to get oen, and harder to get permission, and it all depends on rank and reason. ramsi was able to get it for demure, do to ramsi's rank, and the delicate position of demure.  anyways thats all for now!