Labyrinth of Eternity

Chapter Two

Authors' note: Hello!! We totally didn't forget to post on Thursday, please ignore that mistake. We really need to set reminders even for posting, don't we? Anyway, the new chapter is here, so enjoy!!

I hear voices first. Yet before I can identify the words being spoken, I'm assaulted with the smell of medicine. "His Majesty will be mad at us for harming her-" "Well, if His Majesty knows anything at all, it's that her abilities won't be compromised by a little bruise." The first voice sounds panicked, while the second one is more hostile, their voice lowered to a soft hiss. My sense of touch comes back next. I feel the cold cement ground beneath my fingertips.

After a while, I force my eyes open. The shuffling sounds that have been echoing through whatever place I'm in fall silent. "I feel like shit," I whisper, mostly to myself, but in the now quiet atmosphere, it bounces off the walls. Footsteps come towards me, causing me to sit up in an alert posture, not that it'll do much good with my currently incapacitated situation. I eye two cloaked figures.

"Why am I here? What did I do to whoever you're working for?" I say immediately, getting straight to the point. Even though I can't see their facial expressions, I can have sworn that their eyebrows shot up at my forwardness.

"We work for the former King of Italy," the more hostile one replies after a moment of silence. They deliver it so nonchalantly that I think they are trying to catch me off guard. However, I arrange my features so as to not display an image of surprise, hoping that they'll divulge more information to shock me.

The former King of Italy, huh? I wonder what he wants with me. I rack my brain for anything I may know about him. My freshest memory of that legendary sovereign is the news that he is stepping down from the throne, allowing his son to take the role of leader of Italy. It caused devastation all across the country, and a bittersweet farewell to the former ruler due to the prosperity he had led his country towards.

"He wants you to assassinate his grandson, Crown Prince Gion of Italy," the previously nervous one continues, when they see that the other isn't going to say anything else. My determination to act unsurprised flicker and I blink to keep it back on. Assassinate his descendant? That's no joke. "He'll discuss the situation further with you," they conclude.

The hostile one reaches to me, making me flinch as a reflex. However, all they do is to reach out a hand, as if they are not commanded to disarm me if I do anything to either of them. Seeing no other choice considering that my legs are too numb to stand up by themselves, I grab the outstretched hand.

Nervous guy opens a door that I didn't realise was there - I really have to be more perceptive of my surroundings - revealing a room crafted so precisely that it is a wonder that I haven't heard about it before. Going around killing rich people means that you tend to be entitled to hear a few loose rumours here and there. However, as I walk on the well-polished marble floor, I know I've never caught wind of something as rich-looking as this.

I spy an old-looking man sitting by the table, but his expression is anything but the serene expressions I normally see on those wise faces. He is decked in fine clothes and at one glance, I guess he is the former King, despite never seeing any pictures of him. "Your Majesty," the two cloaked figures say behind me, their heads bowed in respect, and the hostile one having let go of my hand.

I manage a slight curtsy, more for appearances' sake because I know what this person is capable of doing if he ever thinks I'm looking at him wrong. "I heard you want me to kill Prince Gion," I say in a measured tone. I see him take a brief, displeased glance at the two behind me, and the world seems to suck in a breath. After assessing for a while, the former King answers in an equally measured voice, "Yes."

"Why?" I shoot out immediately. The former King gives me one predatory smirk, "I thought people in your line of work aren't supposed to ask questions like that." I bite my tongue to keep from retorting, to not point out the wrongness of such a situation, resorting to cursing myself internally for my carelessness instead. "I tire of him," he states simply, "He may have turned out...slightly better than I expected, but he's not quite the genius grandson I'd hoped for him to be."

"My second son's darling wife is pregnant with a male heir. If I wipe Gion off the family, I'll still have a spare. Not to mention my third son's already fifteen-years-old child!" The former King coughs out an amused laugh. "He's turned out better than Gion, for that matter! Without even me involved in his education." Looking at the king's smug face, I'm starting to wonder if Gion is as weak as he described.

"Here's a file of Gion," the former King hands me a file, and I take a piece of paper out only to find his face staring back at me. He looks really familiar, as if I saw him before, but I can't quite remember where. "He's been studying at Momos Academy for two whole years now, and still hasn't achieved much from whatever he does there. I'm starting to think his good-for-nothing bodyguard and 'friend' are useless too. Might as well get rid of him before he destroys my reputation." He sighs in dismay, curling his fists into balls of vexation. I eye his every move, making sure to study him like how I study everyone else, but something about this King makes it impossible to read him.

"That's fine. How do you propose I approach this task, Your Majesty?" I ask. The former King's eyes drop on me, and zero in, trying to figure out the intent behind my question. Seeming to find nothing, he replies without a second thought, "How you approach this is none of my business. Disguise as a male student to get close to him...beg for an exchange program between your two academies...all your choices will only reflect your professionalism, nothing more."

I am quiet for a second. "What's in for me?" The former King stands up at that question while brushing imaginary dust off his shoulders. "Now that you've heard my intention, there's not quite a way out of it anymore, is there?" I clench my fist under the table upon realising how I've fallen into his trap, but plaster on a smile. "Of course I'm not going to reject such an important task, Your Majesty. I'm just assessing how much this mission is worth."

He takes his time considering, strolling all across the room, looking at every inch as if it is his first time in there. "One year," he states, swiveling around to see my reaction. When I give him the pleasure of none, he proceeds, "I'll give you one year to assassinate him. If you finish this job, I'll reward you handsomely. Riches enough to make sure you don't have to resort to such...dangerous measures to put food on the table. If you don't, however..."

He pauses for dramatic effect, but it is greatly common in my line of work that we get threatened with death shall we fail to do what we've been tasked to do. Naturally, I have never failed my clients, yet there are always gossips of who have been killed for not delivering. Not that we'll ever know how true that is, with no one knowing everyone in the base. We don't even normally know who our fellow colleagues are before they end up in this wretched industry.

"If you don't, I have no choice but to dispose of you." "Aren't you scared that I will reveal your dirty secret after I kill Prince Gion?" I question slyly after he finishes. The former King gives me a distasteful look. "Of course not. I'm an old man anyway, who has already stepped down. I hardly have anything to lose. You, on the other hand, will have to live with the fact that you killed the prince of Italy. Not to mention the legal consequences of manslaughter."

He has certainly planned well, hasn't he? It's calculative clients like this that I always hate picking up, yet it doesn't seem like I have a choice in this. "Fine, but give me two years," I bargain, not pleased at the situation I am currently placed in. Though this may offer me a good chance to assassinate a royal...I hate how the assassin blood in me is pumping at the opportunity to go on a mission different from my usuals, even if someone will still die from it.

"If you use two years to do such a simple task, then I really have to question your professionalism, young miss," the former King says curtly. I glare at him through my bangs. Burning insults are at the tip of my tongue, but I force them down. Standing up to meet his eyes, I comment, "So be it."

That's how my life completely changes, with a mission so heavy on my hands that all my connections can never make me free of it, and I wonder if perhaps it is a mistake to be so at ease with it as my client walks away with an arrogant look on his face.

Authors' note again: Next chapter will be out on 25 August!