Isekai dump

Prince Noe; The Tyrant pt. 2

It's when I'm six, I'm hit hard with reality, a reminder that I shouldn't be so fickle.

"Since you're six, I'm sure you can keep secrets," The empress says.

The different sheens of her dress are prominent even with the dim light coming from the torches of the stone wall. I'm right behind her, absently staring, watching them swish from blue to peacock green. The tapping of her heels echoes louder the more we descend. I'm not sure I like where this is going, for I know she can be a cruel woman- I hear shuffling.

"We're almost there."

My vision cocks to the back of her head, her hair decorated and shaped intricately.

Even though we're going at the same pace, walking down the stone stairs, my heart picks up.

The air quality becoming damper and a little colder.

She suddenly stops and the sounds from her dress stop too. The torch in her hand is not just for show, she lights one on the left side of her with experience. What was pure darkness is now identifiably a dungeon. Even though the light from the fire should be comforting to me, it only makes it erie.

"Noe, this is a test... now be a good boy," she ends softly. A shiver down my back involuntary forms. I try to step side by side to discern her face but before I can do that she's already taking one step after another. Her appearance looks out of place but her bony hand gripping the torch and steps say otherwise. I can only follow, looking at her back because of my physic. We pass dungeon after dungeon, most of them desolate which is a good thing but the smell says otherwise. She turns around staring at me, not even acknowledging that it's dark beside the only light source from her torch. Her blue eyes pierce my equally as blue eyes. She seems to be contemplating, it's subtle but she nods her head down a twitch. Her left hand brings the torch to another one on the wall, then another on her right, eventually till 4 torches are lit squarely. She brings a key out, a jangly noise, unlocking a cell door to the right. This is when all my attention, all my blank-mindedness is directed to the interior of the cell. I blink, and within is a teenager in maid attire, she's perfectly clean looking in contrast to the dungeon. My mother firmly grabs my shoulder harder than need be and drags me into the cell. The only light source is her, behind me, looming.

The silence is loud and dooming. Without any warning, she takes my hand and places a knife In it and I can come to my own conclusions. She's still behind me.

"Now Noe, you will be doing this in your entirety, as crown prince, as my son, as yourself." I can hear her smile, her relief at what I'll do.

I'm shaking, but just my hand, the one with the knife.

"I've taught you and as a crown prince, I'm sure you're not ignorant about death."

I stop shaking.

"Kill her."

My whole body is still, and even though she can't see it my eyes widen. I look up to the maid that is kneeling, her height a head above me. She's not hanging her head, just looking straight forward her eyes dull, in a trance. A teen, a literal teen. I almost make a noise.

"Oh, I almost forgot." she snaps her fingers as if she didn't do this whole thing deliberately.

The girl's eyes lose the dullness and her eyes show realization, the same shade as her hair, cherry pink.

"Empress-" she stutters, she bends her head down before making eye contact with my mother again. Like gasping air she implores.

"Empress please spare me, I- I'll do anything."

I am but a wall between them, a maid and an Empress. A loud snap resounds in the desolate cell.

"She seems to forget that you are the one with the power, the judgment." The Empress says as if her words aren't lies.

"Go on, this should be easy, she is merely a maid."

The girl, the teen with cherry hair snaps her eyes at me all the way down to the knife in my hand. She makes whimpering noises, a substitute for what she cannot say. Her arms and hands are stuck to her side and her knees kneeling in place, which I find odd. An intricate circle of magic is engraved on the ground below her in a circle.

"You can do magic?" I mutter and even though it's quiet it reaches my mother's ears in this desolate place.

"Ah, My boy-" I shudder unnoticed "Yes, this is the secret." I can imagine my mother's eyes gleaming green before returning blue as she says it.

The teenager, the girl with cherry pink hair has stopped whimpering and is now crying silently, her eyes wide open. My mother shoves me forward a step towards the girl.

I can't do it. I bring my knife forward, trembling it towards her neck with no technique.

Her eyes looking at me, still imploring, still hopeful. I can't do it, if I kill her there's no going back.

I can feel someone leaning over me, the shadows in the cell changing shape.

"What are you waiting for?" My mothers, the empress says so clearly.

She goes for the hand holding the knife like a snake on its prey and pushes it into the girl's neck a little. It draws blood and the girl closes her eyes, with a whimper, and a mix of tears.

My mother snaps her hands in front of me this time and for some reason, I'm still holding the knife even if it's weakly. The girl's eyes open as if possessed, and I can see the animalistic fear, with no rhyme or reason, just fear. I vaguely see my figure, blobs of color, yellow and white.

"Noe, I shouldn't have to do this for you." My mother doesn't whisper it because she doesn't have to, she's not ashamed and she's sure of her power and it's all in my ear all too clear.

I flinch, this time noticeably and it comes with my own feeling of self-disappointment than an after flood of self-loathing. It seems I am my mother's child.

She sighs uncharacteristically and resumes grabbing my hand with the knife still trembling.

Pushing it into the skin seamlessly until it makes a straight line, the blood dripping like a waterfall. I can almost see my reflection, like a mirror with a red sheen. Before I know it my mother has done it but all with my hands, she stands back but I can still feel her presence on my back and my hand. The knife was still in my hands but this time on the right side of the cherry girl's neck, her head hanging limply in contrast to her body. The sigil on the ground starts to glow and I stumble back dropping the knife, a clattering noise. I stop myself before I bump into that woman and try to stop myself from even gagging, I'm sure I'm in trouble.

"This time I'll be lenient."

She leaves the cell as if we're getting out of a carriage and I presumably follow as always.

This time walking through the dungeon and walking up the stone stairs is faster. My mother's steps and the noises from her attire were background noises mixed with the beat of my heart.

I almost stumble a few times unnoticed, lost in my thoughts.

I killed a child. I tell myself over and over because it still feels so surreal. I knew my mother was a cruel person but I still thought... I killed a person. My mantra changes.