Ancient tradition demands it

Princess Zelda, ruler of Hyrule, slowly roused as the dawn's light washed over her bed. She lay there for a few moments, half-awake, before her eyes suddenly shot open as she remembered what the date was.

Now that she was of age and therefore eligible, today was the day of her coronation where she would be crowned as the queen of Hyrule. For her loyal subjects it would be a day of celebration, and a happy event that would work towards dismissing the memories of the dark days of Ganondorf's rule.

It was also the day she'd been dreading for almost her entire life, ever since she'd first heard of it.

Her dread was not because of the responsibility of ruling her country. No, she'd been doing that for months as a princess, ever since she had aided the brave champion Link in deposing the despot that had previously ruled over the land.

No, the issue with today lay solely with one singular aspect of the crowning ceremony.

For a moment she closed her eyes, silently wishing that there was a way out of this, before her sense of duty **** her to open them again. With a quiet sigh, she accepted the inevitable and got out of bed, before moving to the adjacent bathroom. A few minutes later, with her skin still damp from the quick bath that she'd taken, she walked back into her royal bedroom. While she would normally have worn a towel, the traditions were clear on her expected actions today and she would not ignore the cherished customs of her ancestors, no matter how much she wished she could.

Even if she had been the kind of person to buck centuries of tradition, she was also intelligent enough to know that now was not the time to do so. Her country had only recently overcome the rule of a foreign invader who hadn't cared a bit for Hylian customs. After seven years of suffering under his yoke, her people desperately needed the comfort of their familiar traditions and customs, and a Queen's Coronation was one of the oldest and most celebrated customs in all of Hyrule. Disrespecting her role in it would only sow anger and discontent among her people, and undo all of the hard work she had done to reunify the land after it had been freed from Ganondorf's grasp.

With her fate accepted, Zelda dressed herself for the ceremony. After brushing her hair and settling it into its familiar style – her long blonde hair falling freely down her back with two long, thin tails swept forward to rest in front of each of her long, pointed ears. Next, she put on her dangling triangular earrings, each shaped in the image of the tri-****. After that, she pulled on her white stockings, each going to mid-thigh, followed by long gloves of the same colour that went to mid-bicep. Finally, she slipped her stockinged feet into a pair of soft tan shoes. Finished with her dressing for the day, she turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her face and chest immediately heated with a hot blush at the sight. Despite everything that she'd just put on, from her crotch to her neck she was still completely bare except for a small tuft of blonde pubic hair that hid exactly nothing. Her breasts, her pussy, her ass – all of them were completely on view.

She was essentially naked. No, it was worse than that. Thanks to her arms and legs being covered, the stockings and gloves actually drew more attention to the bits that weren't dressed. She was worse than naked – she was exposed, on display, her bare flesh highlighted for all to see.

She didn't know how long she stood there, staring blankly at herself in the mirror, but eventually her dismayed paralysis was interrupted by a knock on her door.

“Your Highness?” the voice of one of her maids called from outside. “It's time for the ceremony to start. Are you ready?”

Zelda swallowed. Was she ready? Of course she wasn't ready! She'd been prepared for this event her entire life, and still wasn't ready! She was about to spend the day naked in front of a good portion of her subjects! She'd never be ready for this!

But duty called, and tradition demanded her presence. Could she ignore that call any more than the princesses before her? After all, this tradition had started long ago, she was hardly the first Hylian princess who had walked naked to her coronation.

Zelda still remembered the legend from when it was first told to her when she was young. As with many traditions, it had probably grown as much out of myth as out of truth. More than five centuries ago the rightful princess had been replaced with the child of an unscrupulous regent after her parents had died young. Only surviving due to a faithful maid faking her ****, the true princess grew to adulthood before leading a band of rebels to overthrow the fake princess, who had selfishly spent a life of waste and excess while leading the country into ruin and poverty.

Legends say that at the climax of her rebel cell's attack to stop the crowning of the false princess during the coronation ceremony, the true princess had ripped her dress off to show the gathered nobles the triforce of wisdom, which in that incarnation had rested above her breast. With the true princess's divine mark proving her claim to the throne, and with the false princess refusing to strip to prove she had a mark of her own, the true princess was crowned the queen there and then, standing proud, naked and victorious before her people. Prosperity returned to the land, and the tradition of nude coronations for all princesses thereafter did begin.

A second knock at the door broke Zelda out of her memories. “I'll be out in a moment,” she said to the servant outside as she prepared herself for the humiliation she was about to go through.

Repressing a sigh, Zelda steeled her spine and turned towards the door. It was time.