The secret meeting of the council came to an end and everyone present at it hastened to scatter around the palace to carry out the idea proposed by the chief adviser. Until this day, it was unheard of to arrange meetings without the knowledge of the Royal Highnesses, but now it has become a reality. One man hurried out of this meeting, looking around the corridors behind him, fearing that someone was watching him. This man was the most loyal subject of the first prince, His Highness Slakersh.
Of course, he was the most faithful until someone put more gold in his pockets, but until the price for loyalty to him was outbid, so he was only happy to serve the first prince, even if he often had to humiliate himself in front of him, playing the role of a submissive servants. It was a small price to pay for luxury.
The nameless man approached the door and, looking around, made one knock, after which he heard the following from the closed room:
“Whoever it is, come in and tell me what you came for.”
Having received an answer, the man opened the door and what he saw inside the room forced him to cover his mouth, holding back the sudden urge to vomit. The room smelled of fresh human blood, some maid's torn clothes were scattered on the floor, and a naked young girl, covered in bruises from head to toe, was chained to the wall with nails. Her face had long since turned into something disfigured while a half-naked, black-haired, muscular man was practicing heavy blows on her with his fist.
He apparently liked to beat this maid, perhaps she was guilty of something, or perhaps the first prince did it out of his own whim, but the nameless man didn’t care. He didn't care about her life, but he did care about his own life. He had already imagined similar blows on himself and therefore trembled with fear, mentally imagining the pain from such a strong blow.
The nameless man did not quickly discard this thought while watching the terrible picture of the beating. He remembered that he had come to Slakersh, his master, to inform him of what the royal council was planning to do without His Majesty's knowledge.
"My Lord...."
The man who entered stuttered, not daring to continue speaking, fearing for his own life, but knowing very well the character of this bastard, he still plucked up the little courage he had and spoke.
"The King's advisors want to seize power."
Slakersh, who had been beating the maid for a long time, made the last blow to the stomach, knocking the girl unconscious, leaving her hanging on the wall like a limp doll. This last blow almost tore off her nailed wrist along with pieces of meat, from where this long stream of blood flowed and dripped into a scarlet puddle on the floor. A dark-haired man resembling a young Leff turned towards the nameless man and asked one question with a stern expression on his face:
“The Council wants to seize power? Nameless, immediately explain what this means?"
And the nameless man explained. What he heard in the council chamber was a plan to bring to power Duke Fellrick, Slakersh's uncle and the current king's brother. Fellrick, already excommunicated from the ducal throne and having transferred power to his own son, still has a claim to the throne of the kingdom of Lakuus due to his blood relationship with Leff and can subsequently transfer claims to the royal throne to his own son.
Fellrick is known in these lands as a mighty warrior capable of felling a pack of goblin wolves with his bare hands, and that is why he gathers warriors around him who come to him not out of their own whim, but out of respect in search of glorious battles.
In the past, Fellrick and Leff had a falling out for some unknown reason and never contacted each other again, but now that the days of King Leff's life were coming to an end, Duke Fellrick could take advantage of the situation at any time and take the throne of the Lakuus Kingdom. Moreover, Leff has not announced who will become his successor, which means that if the king dies before he can announce a successor, then the royal council will soon choose a new king.
Of course these advisors may have chosen Draun as the new monarch, but they forget how widespread the influence of the first prince Slakersh was, who had the greatest support among the nobility for the high degree of autonomy he was given in the provinces. Even if the council elects Draun as the new king, most of the nobles will certainly not be able to accept this and they will rebel against the new king, even if the common people support him.
However, if Fellrick sets foot on these lands with his army of powerful soldiers and takes the throne, then there will be no chance for Slakersh and his minions. It will be even worse if the council makes every effort to ensure that Duke Fellrick calmly reaches the capital of the kingdom with his entire army. This is exactly what the damn Draun Rudrin proposed to do when addressing the royal council.
What he heard stirred up the capillaries in Slakersh’s temples; he clenched his fists tightly and loomed menacingly over the nameless man, who almost fell into a stupor with fright, freezing in place after telling the first prince about the plans of the royal council.
“Do you know why your is nameless?”
"Umm..."
The man did not understand the prince’s words; he expected to hear several different words, threatening, furious or even frightened, but definitely not like that. Nameless knew the answer to the prince's question.
“Y-yes, my lord. I am nameless because I am not worthy to have a name before your eyes.”
"No."
The first prince said, licking his lips bloodthirstyly.
“You are nameless because you are dead.”
“Wh...what?”
The man's eyes widened in shock, and the next moment his severed head flies across the room and flies out of the window, forever hiding in the bushes near the walls of the palace.
The nameless corpse fell to the floor, staining the floor already decorated with someone’s entrails with even more blood in a bloody fountain. Slakersh wiped the blood of the nameless man from his blade, and wiped off what had dripped on his face with his finger and licked it. He liked the taste of blood, but did not calm the boiling rage of the first prince.
"Damn weaklings."
The first prince said, tightly gripping the hilt of the blade with his right palm.
Slakersh is the eldest son of King Leff and the main contender for the royal throne. He grew up without the care of his parents and without the supervision of royal servants. He was almost abandoned to his fate, allowed to eat only scraps. This was not the irresponsibility and cruelty of the royal family, but rather it was due to the surging famine that had engulfed the entire kingdom at that moment as a result of the long winter. The king and queen felt out of place and could not afford to pay attention to their own son, who was already beginning to go crazy from the general turmoil.
The First Prince had to get out and start looking for food himself. He was accompanied by a guard, just as hungry as he was, this guard was the first one he ate. The people were so hungry that they killed the attendant who protected the prince and dismantled him into pieces, the remains went to Slakersh and then he tasted the taste of human flesh for the first time and he really liked this taste.
After some time, the three-year hunger stopped, and the king and queen finally began to give Slakersh decent parental attention, but it was too late. There was nothing to stop the monster in the human body. The first prince became addicted to human flesh, at first he went to dungeons, killed and ate criminals, and when they ended he killed and now ate slaves, but when his father forbade Slakersh to ransom slaves in order to eat them, the first prince began to go out at night streets and kill people who did not have time to return home before sunset.
The royal family tried to carefully hide Slakersh's terrible taste for human flesh, but the first prince was still very creepy in the eyes of others, emitting an eerie bloody and cruel aura. This bloodthirstiness attracted monsters causing them to attack the kingdom, which happened many times already.
Slakersh constantly had to fight monsters, the king thus punished him for his own addictions, but after each battle he could not stand the meat of monsters while eating. He always loved human flesh; it had become too tasty for him. Rather, he went to these battles in order to secretly eat a person killed in battle. Such “punishments” of the king suited Slakersh quite well.
He may have been a terrible, bloodthirsty cannibal, but he was still human. His younger brother Monrid once invited him to share a bed with their immobilized sister, and Slakersh also found this activity very exciting. Sometimes he did it alone, and sometimes together with Monrid. The First Prince enjoyed listening to Ilifrita's agonizing and painful whining, it reminded him of the desperate cries of his victims. He enjoyed choking her even more during this process. This is how he fought his own feelings of lust in bed with his own sister.
And yet, Slakersh understood that he would not have to feel such pleasure for long and he began to look for a path to his own well-being. The time will come when he will lose all these privileges of royalty and immunity. One day people will find out who the night killer was, the nightmare of the entire Ran, and a luxurious life will be replaced by eternal flight and suffering among the faceless mass of ordinary people. That is why the first prince decided for himself that he would definitely become the king of Lakuus in order to continue enjoying his life to the fullest in lust and blood.
But what the royal council was doing now really infuriated him. They are going to bring to power Uncle Fellrick, whom Slakersh had never met and, according to his father, was such a blockhead. Slakersh doesn’t know him, just like Fellrick doesn’t know the first prince and this scared Slakersh. It is unlikely that Fellrick will leave anyone from the royal family alive when he comes with his army to Ran. Fellrick will not need absolutely any pretenders to the throne; rather, he will prefer to kill them all, which Slakersh knew very well.
To fight the Fellrick army and defend the right to the throne... does not sound extremely encouraging, but another plan, namely flight, does not bode well for the happy life of the first prince. He must somehow apprehend his own uncle and at the same time crush the royal council before they provoke a war. This will be a two-on-one battle, where Prince Slakersh will not have any advantages, which means it’s time for him to look for ways to solve the problems that have arisen.
Approaching the naked, unconscious girl chained to the wall, the prince swung his blade with a slight movement, cutting her throat. He no longer needed a carcass for whipping, he now needed an army. At this moment, he still had no idea who Granid was leading here. The upcoming meeting will be a pleasant surprise for him.
***
And again, a lot of paperwork, even preparing for war takes a lot of time and takes a lot of effort. Although the royal army of Lakuus does not plan to fight Durshlagdtian troops, it plans to do something else, namely crush the unruly nobles once and for all. If the royal council chose me as king on a whim, the last remnants of the kingdom would be plunged into a state of civil war. None of the advisers understood this simply because they could not see the whole picture as a whole, but I saw such a picture.
“These are orders for the deployment of troops. Pass this on to Mr. Krazhd.”
"Yes, my lord."
The servant bowed and took a stack of papers and left the office.
I have resolved the issue regarding the deployment of forces, but I need to insure myself in case of unforeseen circumstances. I can’t say for sure whether someone at the meeting was secretly loyal to the royal family, but if there was such a person, then someone from the royal family is already aware of what will soon happen. This someone can perform two actions: first, escape and retain his claim to the throne; the second, to repel Fellrick’s troops, which is unlikely, but even a slight possibility of this cannot be ruled out in principle.
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In this case, I took a pen and wrote a new order and sent it to the Privy Councilor. The order says that the servants and maids should keep an eye on the royal family for the sake of their “safety,” so to speak, but in reality it will just be direct surveillance. The royal family will be aware of the surveillance of them, because it will be done for their own good, but they are unlikely to like it. They will express their discontent and then a palace conflict is possible. Simply put, I created a reason for this conflict, and then everything will go down the river.
No problems are expected later, but if something really goes wrong, then the people most loyal to me will have to give the order to kill all members of the royal family, including King Leff. If it works out, then you can blame Duke Fellrick and then in the eyes of all the royal nobility he will become enemy number one. I cannot allow this, I just need to do everything possible to ensure that the royal family members remain in the palace and then no problems will arise.
But what if the royal family still forces me into conflict? What if one of them escapes? What should I do in this case? The answer to this question is insanely simple: give up. Sometimes it’s hard to resist the natural course of things, but it’s better to just follow it. The royal family or Fellrick will not spare anyone from the royal council, but the likelihood of such a decision is quite low. If the negotiations are successful, then on the part of Fellrick we will not need to fear death, but we still need to fear it on the part of the royal family. The royal army may be led by Krazhd and, accordingly, the entire royal council, but in the palace the royal family reigns.
While I was drawing up military, economic and secret orders, a servant flew into my office and stood up, leaning against the wall, taking copious breaths and exhalations. He was in such a hurry to get here that he dried out his throat, but for now I was more worried about the fact that he burst into the room almost without interrupting me while drawing up a decree for the treasury, and therefore I, with dissatisfaction in my voice, asked him a couple of questions:
“Why such a rush? What happened?"
The young servant wiped the sweat from his forehead and, finally catching his breath, reported very unpleasant news:
"My... my lord..., princess... princess Ilifrita... has disappeared... she's not there."
My eyes widened as soon as I heard this. I was so surprised that I even jumped out of my chair. I was not just surprised, but truly shocked. I expected the queen or the first or second prince to try to disappear, but for the princess to disappear... I really didn't expect that.
«Slakersh.»
Having guessed who was behind this, I clenched my fingers into fists.
«You damn kid, it would be better if you sat quietly and waited for your death.»
Fellrick can take Ran without a fight and simply enter the palace and stab the entire royal family, but he can only do this when the entire royal family is assembled otherwise he will have active opposition. It doesn't matter if it is the cruel first prince, the lustful second prince, or the helpless princess, if one of them is alive and not within the confines of the palace hiding from Fellrick's sight, then most of the nobility will stand against him.
«This cannot be allowed under any circumstances.»
I ground my teeth trying to find a way out of this catastrophic situation.
Who would have thought that Slakersh, instead of escaping on his own or with Monrid, would decide to drag a helpless princess away from the royal palace. Ilifrita, after all, was the only one from the royal family who was not followed, simply because she did not pose any danger. She could even hope for mercy from her uncle, but it seems that this will not happen now. Her life is now completely ruined.
«Damn you!»
***
And again I am alone, and there is no one around, only silence and peace oppressing my soul. The sound of the wind from the window seems to beckon me to look outside, to see the blue sky and white clouds floating across it in order to know and enjoy the world around me, but I can’t. Whether I was born this way or whether God punished me this way doesn’t matter, I don’t care anymore, but what really worries me is the great desire to see this very world where I was never allowed out and which I’m unlikely to ever be able to enjoy.
Mom and Dad almost never visited me, and my older brothers mock me, they laugh, saying that I am helpless and useless, and in addition to this, they also sincerely insult my little desire: to get on my feet and take one single walk in the beautiful palace garden outside the window.
Every day I sigh again and again in doom, experiencing another day of torment of my meaningless and empty existence. The only thing I can do is turn my head in different directions and, with the effort of my will, lift objects next to me. And now a book hangs above me, and I mentally turn its pages in search of the right page where I stopped my previous reading. Soon I finally found this page and put the book sideways on the table next to me so that I could read without bothering to support the book with my will.
Constantly holding objects in the air with the power of thought was very painful and tiring, so I could not do this for a long time. What I read was the story of the hero's adventure and how he was going to fight the demon lord and his minions, the princes of darkness and the demon generals who command the armies of evil.
It was, albeit poorly written, but a very fascinating story, which I read with all my being, trying to imagine unprecedented fantastic images from many phrases and colorful descriptions of various actions. Escape from reality into a fantasy world seems to be the only thing I can do in my life. I don’t care what I read, I’ll read whatever I come across, and even if I’ve already read it, I’ll read it again to refresh my memory and relive the story I read again.
Minutes, tens of minutes, hours pass and the sun outside the window is already heading towards sunset. My stomach growls with hunger and my throat is dry. Usually the maids visit me to wash me and feed me, but this time I didn’t see anyone all day. Even those terrible brothers were not there today and this made me worry. I felt uneasy as if something had happened in the palace today, and I, even unable to walk, didn’t know what exactly.
Maybe they were just busy with something? Maybe some very important event will happen soon? This can't be true. What could be more important than the life of a member of the royal family? Never in 18 years of my life has this happened; something clearly happened outside and the fear of what happened bothered me very much. I even mentally closed the book and tried to fall asleep in order to take these terrible feelings of trouble away from myself, but it was very, very difficult to do.
I shuddered when I heard the door creaking and someone’s firm, quiet steps slowly approaching me, becoming louder and louder. I wanted to open my eyes and see who came to me, but the oppressive fear told me not to do anything stupid and just continue trying to sleep. It’s already evening, and the one who came here was the first person to show up to me all day. Today no one visited me, so who is this person who stood above me and breathed on my forehead.
I felt someone's touch on my forehead, on my stomach and legs. Although I cannot move other parts of my body except my head, I felt them perfectly, every touch on my body and how the blood still flowed inside me. This man silently took off the blanket from me and a slight shiver from the evening cold ran through me all over.
«Monrid.»
I guessed and immediately regretted my guess, because as it turned out it was not him.
“You can continue to pretend to sleep, Your Highness, it will only benefit me.”
I suddenly opened my eyes and saw above me a woman with red hair tied in a ponytail and a scar on her face. This elderly woman was wearing leather armor, which is why I did not hear any clanging or other loud noise. There was a belt hanging around her waist and five daggers attached to it, which immediately made me realize something: she was a killer.
I didn’t see hatred in her green eyes, rather pity and to some extent indifference. I didn’t think that this day would come, the day when they would decide to kill me. It was not difficult to guess who she was, a mercenary or an adventurer who simply had to get her hands dirty with blood. I couldn’t help but shudder and ask myself many questions:
«What about me? What about my desire? I just want to take a walk, I want to do it on my feet, I want to run, I want to jump, but I can’t even afford that? God... I... hate you.»
Dying was so scary, I closed my eyes again, expecting a speedy death. I hope she will do it quickly and painlessly, but for some reason I doubt it. My neck was trembling with fear until my body could not do this, still lying immobilized on the bed.
«Why so long?»
I didn't know what she expected, why she didn't just kill me. Since God doesn’t care about such a weak, flimsy girl like me, then all I can do is just hate Him and calmly accept my death. Waiting for the end of my life became torture for me, even more unbearable than the bullying of my older brothers.
And I thought why the mercenary didn’t kill me, when she immediately lifted my body from the bed with her massive hands. I opened my eyes again and looked at her unattractive mature face.
"Please don't make any sounds."
The mercenary said in a rough and stern voice.
"O-okay."
"I told you not to make any noise."
She repeated sternly, and this time I just had to nod, simultaneously swallowing my saliva in fear.
«She's scary.»
I noticed to myself that I no longer dared to make a sound, as she told me, but my neck still continued to tremble with fear.
The next moment she carried me to the only door leading outside my bedroom. At this moment, my heart began to beat quickly, filled with excitement. Never before had I been so far from my bed, where I spent all the days of my life. And so the mercenary leans my light body against her with one hand, and with the other she pulls the handle and opens the door. All I see outside among the corridors is impenetrable darkness.
The mercenary looks around and quietly says with relief in her stern voice:
"Nobody."
At this point I was just starting to wonder what was going on. And I was thinking about asking her about this, when the mercenary immediately warned me.
"Don't make me say it again: no sounds."
«Are you doing this again? »
I twitched and got a little angry, having already come to terms with the fact that I couldn’t speak until I got permission.
«I just wanted to know what’s going on here? Why can't I do this?»
She was silent, and I followed her example as she carried me along the corridors of the palace, the dark walls of which I tried to carefully examine with curiosity. The stone bricks on the sides looked so massive that it seemed that these walls were impenetrable to anything, neither to man nor even to a deity. Along the edges of the corridors stood various statues, and on the walls hung paintings of members of my family and, apparently, my ancestors.
In one of these paintings, I saw a family with happy smiles on their faces. These were my ancestors who previously ruled the kingdom many centuries ago. It is immediately clear that they were happy to live together, loved and cared for each other, they were a real family. I was a little filled with envy and sadness when I saw this picture, and unnoticed by the mercenary, shed a lonely tear.
«If my family loved me... this would never happen.»
“Everything went just great.”
The mercenary said when she, with me in her arms, reached the lower floor, where a man in a dark robe and with a torch in his left hand was waiting for her.
“Where have you been for so long?”
The man groaned in an senile voice, and the mercenary answered him with a click.
“The palace is big. Do you think I could find the princess's chambers so quickly? And why are you even grumbling? Better go get the cart ready, you’ve been paid, do your job.”
“Don’t grumble, woman, I’m on my way.”
The old man said and opened the door behind which a stream of cool fresh air was waiting for me.
"Welcome."
The mercenary, again clicking her tongue, went further after the old man, finding herself outside the palace where it was already night, and the wind was moving the leaves on the trees while the noise of crickets was heard in the distance. It looks like we descended from some secret passage right outside the walls of the palace since we were outside the city in some forest.
The old man, meanwhile, walked to a topless cart hidden among the trees, pulled by one horse. The man pulled the reins and the horse, with all its strength, pulled the cart closer to us and soon stopped.
Probably the first thing I noticed was the nasty smell coming from the horse. The mercenary and the old man did not pay any attention to this stench, but I, who had never smelled the smell of a horse, wrinkled my nose.
«Ugh...what a stink.»
“Get in quickly.”
The old man continued to grumble, looking around.
“The guards could be here any minute.”
«Guards?»
Soon the mercenary put me on the cart, and she herself, stretching her legs, sat down across the wall. The old man pulled the reins again, and the cart began to move, bouncing creakingly on the bumps, making my butt hurt with every jump. I even screamed from one such jump, but this time the mercenary did not reprimand me. I took this as an opportunity to start asking questions:
"Who are you?"
"Agnes, shut her mouth."
The old man grumbled as soon as I uttered my question.
“The rag is in the bag, and you young lady, be careful not to tear this scarf, otherwise you will sew it up yourself, do you understand me?”
"What?"
Before I had time to answer, the mercenary had already pulled a rag over my mouth so that I could only moo, and now I had to breathe only through my nose.
“Agnes, make sure that there is no tail behind us. I know you, you are blind as a chicken."
“Zip your teeth, old man, I know what to do even without you.”
The mercenary named Agnes responded displeasedly, sitting down so as to inspect the entire area around.
I don’t yet know what awaits us, what awaits me specifically, what’s going on in general and why I’m kidnapped outside by some mercenary, but I sincerely hope that this is that long-awaited breath of fresh air, a chance to finally get to know the world better. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even get back on my feet, but for now I could only try to sleep.