There once was four sons who guarded the soul of their people. After their father had perished, they had no other choice but to watch as the eldest son came to the same fate. All brothers helplessly latched onto anything to save themselves from the public's radical but silent rebellion, all under kind smiles, chivalrous blessings, and gentle waves.
All up until there was only one brother left with four corpses stuffed underneath his golden throne. The youngest of the brothers was the least cowardly of the four sons, however that was true only because of his own foolishness. With this small bit of blind bravery, he led his country down a path of chaos, as he sought to take an opposite approach to his brothers.
As the people assumed a plague had began to infect the kingdom, tailored only to nobles and blue bloods, he had called the word to make any poisons illegal. As the weeks went by, rats and insects soon swarmed across not only the villages, but also the castle itself, as the brother was left distraught.
In his courtyard, he looked down at his fountain of lustrous mercury, for it was the only place that the rodents didn't dare go. Yet they still dare scurry underneath his throne to fester and feast upon his dead family? They dare drink out of his own goblets of amontillado as if they them self had ruled the land? It was simply outrageous.
He stared into the pond for the longest time; studying how each small ripple had been torn to and fro from the summers wind, until a reflection appeared behind his own. A dark, slender shadow had outstretched its own hands, thin and pale like moth wings hidden within its cloak of rat fur.
The young king knew that even if he turned his head, it had already been too late. All of the maids were busy stepping on beetles, the guards distracted by carelessly stabbing rodents with the heads of their spears. No one heard his inaudible pleas for help as the thin hands wrapped around his soft throat, pulling him up off of his feet, then letting go.
Laying at the bottom of the thick hazy fountain, only then did he realize how he had been chasing his own tail the entire time. There was no escape to the inevitable. And as his last breaths were crushed into his chest, his cold crumpled corpse had fallen down then landed on the pile of his own rotten family.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Seeing through the heiress's intents, the demon, now self-proclaimed ruler of the nation, did not intend to have his fun to end this soon. He craved to humiliate her to his greatest extent, even if small specs of his psyche had yelled at him to stop, now that he knew that she didn't fear death as much as she did humiliation, he picked up his prey from the cold inverse ashes, and chose on bringing her back into the wolf's den.
How pictures and sounds had ran through both their minds, he had imagined playing with her like how a wolf plays with rabbits. After all of the humiliation she had brought to his name, he had the intents to bring humiliation to her's tenfold, and after that, why, he would not stop at just tenfold. He would not stop at just an eternity of shame. He desired a banquet of humiliation be brought to her very being for as long as her name is spoken and so forth, until the glutton in this play has been desecrated out of existence, until she is shaped into nothing will he be satisfied with his right doings.
The heiress was unconscious yes, however, her mind had been frantic, working nonstop, without any order, sending jolts to her brain stem, rushed jolts of panicked imagery of what was to happen next, fearing the worst about everything and anything that came to her windowed mindset. It's almost sad how a ruler can not weep for their country as much as they could for their own name be taken from them, however, her closed mind can not even comprehend what waits for her in due time.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
My hands were shaking as they clutched against the stone column, what have I done? I've betrayed my own ruler for one who plans to throw our civilization into chaos, our crops to ash. My eyes couldn't stop staring at the bank of snow I had once placed her on, only fate could tell what was to happen to her head, whether set underneath a guillotine, or shoved into her own fabrics for her to choke on. The empty bank had started to blanket over with more snow, erasing her marks as if she was never there.
The hallways remained silent tonight, which had been a complete change from the once lively and loud passageways that they had once been just a day ago. I was alone, everyone else that had remained had already retired to feasting their next meals away from the new king as if nothing had changed today, heck, some people even seemed a little giddy to hear about her demotion in the ranks.
As I made my way to the dining hall slowly, my ears began taking in the voices around the tables, some had spoken of how excited they were to finally get rid of Dimitri once and for all, others had been talking about our new ruler, oddly enough it seemed like no one had even known of his name yet, and of course there had been talk about the countless deaths today, but the most interesting conversations I heard were that of just normal friendly conversation. Normal. Conversation. At a time like this? Taking my place at one of the tables, I couldn't help but ask one of the men why, why at a time like this would they not talk about the horrors that had happened to our kingdom just moments ago?
He shrugged, "As long as there is ale in my cup, what sympathy do I have to give to things I have no control over?" he asked before taking another sip from his mug. After refraining from strangling him with several different rebuttals, I took a moment to actually reflect on what he had said; there was some truth in his words, yes. However, no one can tell what intentions this new ruler has, even though it was likely that no one would ever ban something as dire as alcohol to the public.
I took a deep breath before looking off to one of our former queen's murals. Apparently, some of the servants had been instructed to take them down for the time being. I almost wanted to yell at them for what they were doing, but I couldn't be caught showing actions of betrayal to him. I wasn't dumb, but I never wanted to be regarded a traitor either. I'll make it up to my queen, I promise her that much for all that she has done for me, for everyone. Everyone else here though, they all are deemed as traitors in my eyes for being sloths over her rescue.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
