“Father! Father! Father, are you all right!?”

I bursted into my father’s room after hearing he had collapsed. The news had spread quickly within the castle and by the time I got to his room my father was already awake. I was extremely relieved that my father was already fine because when I heard that he had collapsed, I was scared that it was something serious.

“Here you go, Rike. Drink some of this herbal tea. All the herbs put into this have effects that will recover your body.”

“Thanks, Phil. You’re always taking care of me.”

“Don’t mention it brother. Father is off exploring the world, and Mother died a long time ago, so who else is suppose to take care of you when you’re sick.”

The man who was taking care of my father was my uncle, Phillis Renner. This bastard is the one who would betray my father and take over the kingdom. My father was too trusting of him and hadn’t realized that behind the scenes, Phillis was making plans to overthrow him.

Phillis was his younger brother, and my father dotted on him so he didn’t even have a clue of his evil side. Phillis was a conniving fox who tricked my father. Since Phillis was the second son, he had 0 chances of becoming the king of our nation. Even though he wasn’t able to become king he still helped my father and because of that, my father trusted him. He felt bad for Phillis because he knew Phillis wanted to become king and so he allowed him to be part in political affairs. Phillis took care of the nobles’ affairs and communication with other kingdoms.

“Claire, Daddy’s all fine now. You don’t have to worry.”

I cried within my father’s arms. A little while later Lance entered the room and he had the exact same reaction as me, he was worried. The only people within the room was me, Lance, my father, Phillis, and a few doctors, while Clive was waiting outside of the room.

“Father are you fine.”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, your majesty. From my analysis of your condition, I believe that you should rest for a few months before continuing your duties as a King.”

My father’s face fell. He had a troubled look on his face as he thought about what to do about his situation. He was the King of this nation and needed to rule it, but he couldn’t. After a while his face no longer looked gloomy, and instead now looked decisive.

“Ok, I understand Doctor. Lance, I have a mission for you.”

“Yes! What is it Father.”

“You’re already 17 and almost an adult, so I am willing to entrust this task to you. You are still young and inexperienced, but this will be a valuable for you as the future King. From here on until I get well, you will now be the pseudo-King of this nation. I hope you will be able to show results that satisfy me and our citizens.”

“Yes, Father! I will not disappoint you or our citizens!”

Lance had gotten on one knee and kneeled down towards our father. This was the most important task that was ever given to him by our father. There was now a massive weight put on his back with the responsibility of ruling the nation.

“Since you are still young, I will have your uncle Phillis direct and help you as King. Are you fine with this Phil.”

“Yes, I will gladly take the position as my nephew’s advisor.”

“Good, then consider this matter done with.”

Everyone in the room was shocked at what just occurred. But none of us had noticed that one person wasn’t completely shocked like the rest of us. I saw his face and saw that there was a smile on his face. At that time I believed that he was smiling because he was happy because of Lance, but I was wrong. Behind that smile was evil, it was like he had expected this to happen since the beginning.

Later that day, Lance’s appointment as pseudo-King was announced, and it became the talk of the town. It was even to the point that it had reached the village of Clear View which was the furthest from the capital.

None of the citizens complained about Lance’s appointment because he had already built a reputation for himself. Our father took care of the bigger problems our nations dealt with, and Lance on the other hand, took time to deal with the smaller affairs in person. The people already knew that Lance cared for the people to the point where he would do menial tasks. The only thing they were worried about was his experience as a ruler. He had never taken on a task this big and he was only 17 years old.

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I wasn’t worried about Lance as the pseudo-King though. I trusted in him and was happy that he had the chance to show off his skills. The only thing I regretted at that time was that Tristan would never be able to see Lance becoming the King. Many months had already passed since Tristan had disappeared, and there was only a very slim chance of him being alive.

Many people assumed that the Kingdom of Shields had kidnapped Tristan, but there was no evidence leading to them. When Tristan had disappeared he was coming back from the Kingdom of Shields. He had gone to the Kingdom of Shields to propose to the daughter of the Elso household. The Elso household was a mid-class noble family and was well acquainted with our family. Their household was formerly a low-class noble family but after their 3rd daughter, Sera Elso was born, everything changed. That daughter was extremely beautiful so other nobles showered them in gifts hoping to get her hand in marriage. What no one else knew, expect for me, was that she and my brother Tristan had fallen in love with each other. They had met at a party in our nation, and were inseparable. The entire time she was here, she would spend it with Tristan.

The Elso household was the first suspect, but nothing was found on them that connected to Tristan’s disappearance. The next few suspects were the other nobles who were also interested in Sera, but once again nothing was found. The only clue on Tristan’s disappearance was an eyewitness account. Someone had seen Tristan’s group a few miles from where they had disappeared, and this was used to approximate their location. So many months had passed and no one believed Tristan could still be alive, but to this day, I still believe that he is still alive.

Everyone had believed that Lance would have been a good ruler, but that wasn’t what happened. During his first week as a ruler, he made a few changes here and there, but nothing too significant. As the second week came around, major changes were made. The army was weakened, the citizens were taxed more, the nobles had more power, and even the King’s power was diminished.

Before all these changes were implemented, my Father’s ruling couldn’t be called perfect, but it was decent. The taxes on the citizens weren’t too high, there was a strong army to protect the people, and the nobles never had enough power to control the entire nation. But now, the citizens were suffering more than ever.

I couldn’t believe that this was my brother Lance ruling the nation. He was never this crazy with power, he was a kind older brother who cared for the people and his family. I was angry and confused, but most importantly I wanted answers. I stormed off towards my brother’s room.

“We have to be careful Claire. Something is very wrong with the kingdom right now.”

“It’s fine Clive. Lance is my brother, I can convince him that what he is doing is wrong.”

As we neared his room, I could see 2 guards in front of his room. The weird thing was that I didn’t recognize them at all. I have watched Clive sparred with many of the knights in the castle and I remembered all of their faces, but I didn’t recognize these 2. Another thing off with them was that their uniforms were different. The regular knight uniforms consisted of the colors black, gray, and white, but these 2 had only black and red on their uniforms.

“Halt, who are you?”

“Who am I?! How dare you not know that I am the 1st princess of this nation! I am here to see my brother.”

The 2 of them looked at each other and questioned one another. My pompous act and attitude had worked and they proceeded to open the door for me. I walked in with Clive and as we passed by the 2 guards, I could see an emblem on their uniform. It was in the shape of an ‘S’ and looked like a snake made out of chains. It probably symbolized what group they were with, but I didn’t recognize it.

We entered the room and it was dark. The only light entering into the room was from the opened doors and the slight openings from the blinds. The room was stuffy and all over the ground it was scattered with papers. The 2 people in front of us was Phillis and Lance. Phillis was standing next to Lance, while Lance was furiously going through the stacks of papers.

“This is for the better of the Kingdom. It will bring prosperity. I have to do this. This is for the better of the Kingdom. This is for the better of the Kingdom.”

“Lance!”

I called out to Lance, but he didn’t reply back. He continued to mumble to himself and work through the papers. It was like he was in a trance and couldn’t hear me so I called out to him again. Again, he didn’t answer me.

“What are you doing here Claire?”

“Uncle Phillis, what’s wrong with my brother?”

“Don’t worry about it Claire. What he is doing is for the greater good of our Kingdom.”

Phillis talked to me like there was absolutely nothing wrong, but I knew something was off. The smile on his face as he talked to me gave me chills. It was one of pure happiness, but his eyes were full of piecring coldness. This entire situation was wrong. My brother would never enact those cruel rules that destroyed the lives of the citizens.

“This isn’t my brother. What have you done to him Uncle Phillis!? These rules and laws would never be accepted by my brother.”

“Why would you say that Claire? Everything that has been done was all done willingly by your brother.”

“No! You’re wrong!! My brother would never be this cruel!”

“Why don’t you hear it from him yourself then. Lance tell Claire your goals.”

At that moment, Lance stood up from his chair and looked at me. ‘That’s not my brother.’ Just looking into his eyes, I felt like I was being absorbed into a deep darkness. His eyes were distant and clouded. Normally he had a cold piercing gaze, but behind that you could still see gentleness. At the moment I couldn’t see any of that gentleness, all I could see were the eyes of a madman.

“Let me tell you Claire. All I have done is for the greater good of our kingdom! Every action, every plan, and every law is for our nation! I will bring prosperity! I will bring life! I will bring joy! I will become the best King that has ever ruled this nation!!! Anyone who dares to interfere will be EXECUTED!”