The Prince - Intrologue

I bid thee, gaze upon my haggard visage and tell me what you see. Is it the countenance of a stately prince who ruled over his lands with fairness and devotion? Or is it the time-scarred façade of a man who has seen the blackest evil known to all the world and has been made a shell of everything he previously was?
I can not give you a distinct answer, for I am biased toward the former and the gloriousness of my past. Yet I can not deny the tortures I have suffered and their effects that leave me the latter.
The events of my tales are not unique to literature, however, their details and results are singular to my existence.
It is best that I do not bore you with the beginning of my story, as we have all heard the births and childhoods of princes and kings in the epics and legends; mine was no different or particular.
The commencement of my tribulations was on the second night of my honeymoon.

and so it begins...