The dawn of night seemed to be peaceful as of late: the moon shined upon the capital city of the Neugomian Empire with its dim radiance, as the people busied themselves with either their nightly chores, or a well earned rest after a long day's worth of work.

In the mansion of one of the empire's most esteemed individuals however, several figures had chosen to still remain awake, as they continued to plan upon the heinously devious schemes that they had long been concocting.

In a vast hallway that stretched for meters across, a man in refined clothes that clearly belonged to that of nobility, kept patiently waiting for the approval he had long waited for as he tapped his foot on the floor repeatedly.

Eventually, however, the man's patience would finally be rewarded with the arrival of one of the guards sent to verify his entry.

"You may come in." in a rushed, yet formal walk did an armored soldier approach him, as his movements then gradually came to a halt as he gave a salute. "The 1st Prince has allowed you to enter."

Quickly, the man wasted no time as he walked hastily to his master's work quarters: after all, the nature of the information he had to disclose to him was of great importance, and there was absolutely no time to waste about this.

As soon as he opened the thick wooden doors that led into the office, a massive room of wooden furnitures and bookshelves met his gaze, as well as the prince who busied himself with the piles of paperwork that stood toweringly above his desk.

The prince had quickly taken notice of his arrival, as he then wasted no time to speak despite the incredible amount of work he was already busy with. "... Ah, Remuz, you've arrived earlier than expected... I presume that my worthless brother has already been dealt with?"

Remuz quickly bowed down and knelt on the floor. "Indeed, your highness: I've detected magickal signals from the beacon I gave them. The 3rd prince's death is most definitely assured."

"Excellent, my friend, well done..." Tristan spoke as he smiled. "... And of the knights we sent to get rid of him?"

Remuz's face darkened for a moment, as the tone of his voice remained as serious as ever. "Their death is equally assured, your highness, the beacon is sure to attract the dragon residing in that area: None of them will survive."

"Ah, perfection; no loose ends in sight..." Tristan then rose from his chair, giving a pat on Remuz's shoulder as he walked towards the window to stare at the city outside his quarters. "Now we only have 2 other bastards to get rid of..."

Their plan had been incredibly well thought out from the very beginning: the knights who had been sent out to kill the 3rd prince had been given magickal beacons, and according to the instructions they were given, the beacons were supposedly made as a means to establish a proper, secretive line of communication with the prince in order to ensure the operation's success. What they didn't know however was that the beacons they were given weren't actually meant as a way of communication, as they never even were meant for such a thing in the first place because the nature of their work would have rarely allowed such opportunities; rather, the true purpose of the magickal devices that'd been entrusted to them was meant to attract the dragon that resided near the trail where the 3rd prince was supposed to be killed, which would thus leave only both the 1st prince and his loyal lackey as the only individuals who were aware of the grisly assassination that had been made.

However, despite the cold, unflinching obedience that Remuz had always displayed towards his master, he still felt a pang of... perhaps guilt for having to get rid of the knights that they sent.

"... If I may, your highness... may I ask a question?" Remuz would then pose a question, to satisfy an important query formed from his sudden curiousity.

"You may, of course. What is it, Remuz?"

"... Is there a reason as to why we had to get rid of those knights? Couldn't we have just used them more for other tasks instead?"

The prince gave off a dark smile as he would then reply in a snark tone of voice.

"I have many more pawns under my command, Remuz, no need to fret so much about such small losses... and also..." he then went on to explain. "... Those knights were untrustworthy, we have no leverage over them. What's to say that they won't just inform the others of the task we gave to them? It's better to have no loose ends when it comes to these sorts of matters after all..."

"Although, I do have to wonder..." the prince continued, as he slowly walked towards Remuz, who had remained kneeling all the while, even after the prince had finally finished with his explanation . "... These sorts of things usually don't bother you... have you perhaps gotten too soft already?"

A light sense of dread began surfacing within his heart: there was no way he could afford to look weak in front of the 1st prince. After all, this man was cunning and as cold as the indomitable ice formations of the north: he would quickly get thrown away or stabbed in the back if Remuz did not afford to be incredibly careful around him.

"... No, your highness. I initially thought that it was a waste of resources and manpower. Now that you've explained it, I can at least somewhat understand..."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

For a moment, the prince looked surprised with what he had said, and would choose to remain silent for a while. A few seconds later, he would then suddenly chuckle rather loudly: he had ultimately found Remuz's words to be an incredibly amusing form of brief entertainment.

"... Hahaha, no need to be so uptight around me, my friend. I was simply messing with you!" Prince Tristan spoke with a rather boisterous tone as he would then pat his subordinate's shoulder once more with an ample force. "For now, I allow you to rest for the next coming days... we have a big plan coming on along after all..."

The eyebrows of the confused Remuz then slowly furrowed. "... What may this plan be then, your highness?"

"Simple really: my worthless youngest brother was simply a test on the waters: a demonstration, if I may add." the prince spoke as he raised his index finger. "As I said before... we're going to be getting rid of my 2 other siblings as well in order to... remove competition."

How ambitious, Remuz thought to himself. While the plan they had just conducted had succeeded, there was no surefire way to determine if they could succeed against the 1st prince's other remaining siblings as well. Even so, however, this was the reason why Remuz had chosen to swear loyalty to such an insane man of royalty: he was ambitious and brave, but he also had both the intelligence and power to back up his insanity as well.

"Interesting, your highness..." Remuz responded, still remaining in his kneeling position all the while. "Regardless, I shall continue to be your humble servant and assist you with your goals. From this point on, please feel free to continue using me as you see fit..."

"... I thank you for your loyalty, Remuz... Ah, I have a question for you as well by the way..."

"Hm? What may your question be then, your highness?"

Unexpectedly, the prince's expression would suddenly grow a bit darker than usual. "... How is my assassin faring beneath the depths? Has she finally chosen to speak properly yet?"

"... Ah, I presume you want to see her then? Sadly, she has still not told us anything despite the incredible torment we've already put her in..." Remuz would reply, as he would then quickly stand up and gesture for Prince Tristan to follow him. "... Please follow me then, your highness, I shall bring you to her cell at once."

________________________________________

It was a pitiful being that resided within that darkened cell: her right eye and left arm had been taken away by her torturers, as the other wounds she had already suffered from were still continuing to torment her already physically battered body. The chains that bound her sole remaining arm and 2 feet held her firmly in place, denying her any means of escape from both her endless imprisonment and her everyday torment.

How many days had it been since her capture? From what she could tell, it had already been several months... perhaps even longer than that.

Within a dungeon cell where not even a single ray of light could reach and shine in was once an infamous, blonde-haired warrior of the east, whose defeat had only come due to a devastating betrayal that came from her own side.

Once, she had proudly bore the name she had been bestowed to her by her clan, the Zhao Clan of the East: Altair, a name given to a child who could achieve a great many things through its wondrous potential, in which case, she truly did. Through her unparalleled skills and leadership did she lead a thousand-strong contingent of men against the armies of the Neugomian Empire that had set out to invade their lands, efficiently fighting and starting controlled and tactical skirmishes and ambushes against their superior enemy to the point where they had managed to grind their enemies into a stalemate. Now however, an unforeseen backstabbing from who was once her closest of comrades had led her to a failed assassination of the invasion force's commander: the 1st Prince Triston himself. Because of her failure, she would eventually be captured and brought to the tragedy she was in today.

If only she could die... Alas, her tormentors had been effective at keeping her alive- they used a combination of various drugs and magick spells to keep her agonized and alive for as long as possible... It was truly such a horrific fate...

"... Ah, here she is... Leave us for now Remus, it's not like she can do anything to me in the state she's already in..."

Finally, after what seemed to be days, the iron door that led into Altair's cell would finally open, as 2 men who were conversing with each other walked into her room. In truth, however, their identities were all too familiar with the once-famed assassin: after all, nobody would ever be able to forget the faces of those who tormented them everyday with a brutality that equaled the peak of what the creativeness of the human mind could conjure.

"... Are you certain of this, your highness?" Remus, the prince's most loyal subordinate would ask, his voice visibly full of concern. "If she attempts anything, I won't be able to respond as quickly as possible... are you sure that you are fine with being alone with her?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine with this." the prince answered nonchalantly, as he would then gesture to him to go away. "Now please leave... I'm about to have some 'fun' with her..."

Remus would simply bow as he turned around and began to walk towards the iron door. "... At once then, your highness..."

THUD!

The door would then slam shut as Remus quickly made his leave, leaving the 1st prince alone with the woman who had attempted to assassinate her. He walked slowly towards her bound body, as he then grabbed her chin in a forceful manner and stared right into her fatigued, yet beautiful, blue eye with a cold, yet mocking gaze.

"... Do you know why you ended up like this, my poor, one-eyed assassin?"

Altair would take a while to respond, as she had still remained a bit disoriented from her lack of sleep due to her bound position. "... Please... kill me already..."

"Hahaha... now's not the time for you to die, dear." the prince would laugh, as he then gave her left cheek a series of light taps with his right hand. "... And also, the betrayal made against you... it's rather tragic, isn't it?"

Altair would remain silent upon the prince's remark, as he would then continue on to speak.

"A prestigious warrior of your people, and yet because of the power hungry gluttons that they were, they casually tossed you aside like you were nothing." each word he spoke of contained a heavy hint of mockery. "... sent on a mission to assassinate me by your own clan, a mission which had already been secretly made to fail... then tortured by your enemies for several months seemingly without any end... it's a wonder you haven't bitten off your own tongue yet..."

"... Please... no more..."

"But do you know what was the funniest part?" the prince asked, ignoring her question as a dark grin emerged on his otherwise serious face. "You most likely would have succeeded in killing me had you not stopped at that vital moment and fell onto the floor... I mean, the dagger was mere inches from my face, but it stopped before you could even plunge it deep into my skin... why is it?"

"..."

Seeing her silent reaction, the prince merely chuckled in faint amusement. "There's nothing to hide though, as I already know the reason." he continued. "... Your comrades secretly fed you poison amidst your mission... and of course, unfortunately for you, it only managed to fully take effect by the time you were about to kill me... how sad... it would've been better for you to have died at that moment, am I correct? You wouldn't have had to experience the torture we gave you..."

"... Why are you doing this when you already know everything?"

"To rub it on your already beaten up face of course." the prince told with a tone of mockery. "I mean, you tried to kill me, and also... I just wanted to spend some time with my would-be-killer before her final sentencing."

Altair furrowed her brows for a moment, unable to understand what he meant with the word 'sentencing'. "... W-what do you mean?"

"Oh, Remus hasn't told you yet, hm? You'll be sold as a slave, dear. You'll be used, abused and broken until the day you die. It's actually more merciful compared to the other fates we had in store for you."

"... W-why such a... light punishment?"

A cold smile emerged on his face once more. "Ah, you see, you're not going to be just a slave." he answered. "You're going to be the special laborer of one of my... Important connections... one who's probably going to be far more brutal with his treatment towards you in the future... isn't that just lovely?"

A faint dread then formed within her heart: No, there was no way she could accept this. To become the slave of some random man was not something she could just live with. Altair was a proud warrior of the clan she had faithfully served since birth, and even amidst her brutal torture, she had never once even told her interrogators anything about the masters she had once loyally served. How could all the torment she endured only lead to such a cruel and pathetic fate in the end was completely unreasonable to Altair- she would have preferred to die brutally while fighting than to end up as some broken toy for some evil man.

... Well, at least becoming a slave was more preferable than being hanged or burned at the stake.