Prompt 54: Balance

Princess Hakuei Ren was always well-balanced. Calm, collected, beautiful, smiling, but also strict in a way – not too much though, always gentle.
She seemed to have everything under perfect control.
And she was admired by many for this, her little brother one of them.
But, even though she seemed to have everything under control on the outside (well, except her cooking skills), her inside was a whole other thing.
Hakuei was aware of her duties when her brothers and father died. She knew she would have to act properly, or it would bring them unwanted problems. She knew she would have to help Hakuryuu, since her little brother was struggling with their death and didn't know how to react upon it at all (-she would have done that anyway). She knew that every single courtier would look at her (and her family) and either pity them or search for ways to use her situation to their advantage. Sometimes both.
So she steeled herself, trained to keep calm, to not get too startled, no matter how surprising the situation might be. She got used to always have a gentle smile on her face, for her little brother who soon grew up into a young man. She put the others before herself, and always tried her best.
From the outside, she was perfect, or as close to as probably possible.
The inside however not so much. She still could do things to a certain degree which she liked, and her position in her cousin's army helped with that, but she still felt like a caged bird in a way. That only stopped on those rare occasions when she was alone with her closest friends or with her brother – the latter however got rarer and rarer, since Hakuryuu was busy training. Hakuei noticed that he changed, but paid that no mind, every time they were together she was just glad to have her little brother.
Well, until things went down.
She got desperate with the events evolving, her little brother starting a civil war against their cousins.
And at one point, her balance broke. It was too much to bear. The pressure building up inside her, the pressure from the courtiers, her desperation regarding her little brother – it overweight everything. She gave up, and allowed the little voice she had started hearing not too long ago to take over, not knowing that it would kill herself, and that another person would from then on move her body instead of herself.
She lost her balance and lost herself right with it.
That's how the beautiful, calm, gentle and balanced bird in a cage died.

A/N: Apperantly it took me ages (not quite literally yet) to upload another chapter. I am sorry for that. Updates will be slow, however, thanks to everyone who still reads/reviews/follows or even favorites this, you're awesome!
The offer with suggesting characters still stands, by the way. (And for all those who actually did that, i haven't forgotten you, i just need to find my creativity again ;A; )