#genetic!fail

Basically Princess Sarah was born first, 8 min later he was born. Sarah was next in line for the throne but she passed away due to sudden illness in her early teens. So Chrome becomes the heir.

Of course James was inseperable from her, so her death left him beyond depressed. After a year the King sends him abroad to see the world and distract him. Nothing works and he's inconsolable until he meets a duke in a neighboring kingdom. He falls in love with that guy and he becomes happy again. The king isnt too enthusiastic about the situation (what about GRANDCHLDREN?!) but he's relieved that James is no longer wanting to die, so he relents.

James is like any other teen in love and is spending most of his time with the duke (i dont remember chromes boyfriends name) and he's HAPPY. He spoils his duke, gives him everything he wants, and even promises kingship to him. The duke is always demanding more until he finally convinces James to ask his father to abdicate his throne to him.

OF COURSE the king refuses and forbids James to see the duke anymore. James is defiant and blinded by his love, he can't tell that the duke is using him. He runs away to the other kingdom. The duke is actually planning on starting a war with James kingdom, using all the gold and resources James had given him. James is horrified and goes back to warn his father and they just barely are able to defend their kingdom.

After their narrow victory, which ended in the deaths of many people, all the citizens are furious with prince James. They demand his exile. The king doesn't want to, but he knows Chome was partially responsible for the war. He exiles Chrome for 10 years, and names his nephew his successor until Chrome returns.

But ten years pass and Chrome doesnt bother returning. He is heartbroken and cynical. He blames himself for everything, and constantly feels that he should have died instead of Sarah. So he chooses to remain in exile.

It's something like, Zel and Travel both train in the kings castle, but the crown prince is horrible and cruel and unfair. (They don't know each other until Travel accidentally shoots a spell out the window turning Zels horse into a dozen chickens or something.) Anyways, the king dies, leaving bad-prince to be king, and Zel decides to look for the lost Prince Chrome, dragging Travel along with her. They get past the traps and enchantments guarding Chrome's tower/castle/prison. But when they finally get to him, he refuses to be king. Zel won't take no for an answer so she basically forces Travel to use magic to get Chrome to cooperate but it backfires causing Chrome to forget everything. So the three have to go on yet another quest to find the power ful sorceress Roxanne to fix the mess Zel made and get rid of Chrome's amnesia.