Taking her place

Royalty

While sitting on the table I look through some of the paperwork provided for the school’s new ownership, I look through the small letters but they begin to disappear as my eyesight becomes blurry.

 I rub my eyes and try to look at the letters again but it’s no use, my eyes are tired, and I don't blame them.

After I met him last night I couldn’t sleep a wink, instead, I stayed up all night trying to recall my memories to find things that might help me in case everything goes to s**t.

After all, if the way we met him changed, who's to say that the present won’t completely change after all that's happened.

I set the papers down as I lean on my chair and stare at the ceiling now. 'What am I going to do?'

the calming sound of the birds singing and the breeze blowing through the window are so alluring, allowing me to close my eyes as I continue to face the ceiling.

"You aren't going to take that are you?" Ethan asks as he looks at the statue of a man with wings looking down at us with judging eyes. the powerful sensation of heroic values makes Ethan shiver as he continues to stare at its dreadfully well-sculptured eyes. eyes that look almost human.

The angel of ashes, the symbol of protection for the kingdom of vespers, my father.

Perhaps for Ethan, the expression in the statues face might be intimidating him for even thinking about stealing such an important sword but to me, his expression tells me that he is disappointed in me. I’ve been using what is left of my strength to kill people, some who are innocent but that I consider collateral damage.

every single one of o those things goes against what my father taught me, its too far from the legacy that he left behind.

I move closer to the statue as it stands tall and over a shrine with a sword below it, the markings are the same as I remembered them but there’s something different about it. 

The glow that it used to have, is no longer there.

When my father had it the sword always looked as if it could communicate with my father or as if it were alive but now it looks like a normal piece of armory, dull and filled with rust.

'The last time I saw you, you were on the floor of our house with my father’s head cut off.'

For a split second, it glows as if answering to my thoughts but then it disappears and the feeling of something being within it, is gone.

I grab the sword as I tie it to my back "you are crazy you know that!" Ethan tries to whisper as I ignore him and continue to walk towards our exit. "If the church finds out that you stole its precious artifact, they will find you and kill you!"

"Then let them!" I scream back at him as he flinches. "They will be able to kill me but they won’t be able to get their hands on this sword. They are not worthy of holding this sword..."

I continue to walk as I hold on to the strap that is holding the sword against my back with a tight grip. 'Not after they killed its owner.'

"Oh yeah, back then- I mean in that path I found fathers sword."

'What if it's already there?'

I get up as quickly as I can while I push my chair away from me. "That time it didn't react to me, but it might react to Lenna..."

I quickly run to the bathroom as I get ready to head out.

 'This might just work out.'

"My lady as unfortunate as it is you can’t be dressed like that today!"  Lily says as she pushes me back to the bathroom with a dress in her hand. "It seems that today his highness wants to meet you and lady Lenna. It was very unannounced but I hope you can forgive us for the inconvenience." 

She closes the door behind her as she hands me a black dress with golden lines on the bottom and on the sleeves.

"What are you apologizing about, it’s not your fault," I say as I begin to strip.

"But you look as if you were about to go out." She gives me the dress as I smile softly.

"I can still head out; I’ll just be wearing something different. So, no big deal really."

Lily sits me down in front of a mirror in my room as soon as I finish changing into the dress as she begins to work on my hair. "The color of your hair is very beautiful!" She says as she looks at her fingers with my hair intertwined in them.

"Thank you." I say as she opens her eyes wide "the color came from my mother. She was a talented mage and her hair was only more proof of it."

"Does that mean that..."

I put a finger in between my lips as she gets the hint and stops talking before, she says anything else. "Why do you hide it?"

"I have enemies out there that I want thinking that I am all muscle and bones." She continues to work on my hair as she smiles innocently.

"I see, my lady is an incredible person."

As soon as Lenna and I get to the front doors of the castle she begins to freak out. Her light grey dress is almost transparent at her arms and the dress is covered in flowers that pop out in a three-dimensional way making them look like real flowers growing from out of her dress.

"Just try not to say anything insulting and you'll be fine," I say as Lenna glares at me.

"It’s not me I'm worried about."

I look away from her as I try to ignore her but it’s useless, she doesn't let it go that easily.

"Blair promise me that you'll behave. Please, I know they can’t touch us, but they can still try."

I look at Lenna's hands and they are filled with scars from the times that she has trained herself.

 'If it’s her, the sword will definitely react.'

"Mom and dad used to have weapons that were considered artifacts. Don't you ever wonder what happened to them after that day?" I ask as her eyes begin to water a bit as if she is about to cry but she holds them in.

"Don't think that I don't notice that you are changing the subject but, yes I do. I would give anything to be able to have anything from either of them. Since that day, the only thing we managed to run away with were the clothes in our backs." she continues to look at the ground as she closes he fists tightly and clenches her teeth.

"His highness is ready to see you." A man wearing the uniform of a butler says as Lenna and I stand with our backs straight, facing the doors as they begin to open.

The doors are loud, that by the pure sound I can tell that they are heavy and most likely useless if you are trying to leave without letting anyone else notice.

The room is enormous, it almost reminds me of the inside of a church and I scowl. 

'I hope they are leading the people well if they get to have such luxuries its only right.'

We walk a good amount before we stand in front of the stairs that lead to the seat of the king. We stop as soon as we touch the red carpet with our heels and we curtsy as low as we can, after all, we must show respect if it’s the royal family.

"You may stand." The king says as he sits on his throne with his queen beside him in a throne of about the same size as his. "Which one of you is lady Lenna?" He asks as he flashes a wide smile.

"It’s me, your highness. It’s a pleasure." Lenna says as she bows her head once more with respect.

"I see, you are quite a beauty. I heard that you became a knight, please do allow me to congratulate you." He says as he laughs loudly making his queen smile at us with an uncomfortable expression. "I’ve heard many good things from your mother about you, I am sure you'll make a splendid wife in the future."

'Here it comes.'

Lenna nervously laughs as she bows "thank you, your highness. To be told that by you makes me feel incredibly honored." She says but as soon as she bows her expression changes.

If there is anything that Lenna hates is being told that being a wife of a noble family suits her better, then to become a knight. After all, she has a beautiful face, she seems to have inherited our mother’s beauty while I inherited her hair color.

Something that people would probably consider a pity if they knew about, after all, she would have been the spitting image of her if she had just been born with blue hair.

I flinch as soon as I see from the corner of my eye, there’s a girl with blonde hair walking up towards the king’s throne with a huge dress filled with jewels as she flashes a smirk.

My fists tighten up as I feel my knuckles itch violently.

 'What are you smiling at?'

"So, then you must be Blair?" He asks as he begins to glare at me.

Lenna begins to look pale as she looks back and forth between me and the king.

I just stand there without moving a muscle, returning a smile as he continues to glare. "I see your highness is pleased with the gift I left you."

"You dare to try and hurt someone from the royal family?" His tone is now loud and displeased. He signals something which causes his guards to lunge towards me with their swords, but their swords are stopped by the sound of metal colliding. The two men that were standing at the far back in the king’s throne jumped down to protect me.

They push the guards down as they both bow down to me and Lenna. "My lady are you alright?" One of them says as he looks at me with a nervous expression.

"I give you the life of that annoying girl and this is how I get thanked? With a target on my head?" I ask as the king stands.

"How dare you protect her?!"

"It seems the royal family is beginning to forget their manners!" I say as I begin to walk towards the stairs and begin to climb them.

"My lady, it’s dangerous!" The other guard says as he moves towards me, but I raise my hand up, signaling him to stop.

Once I am at the top of the stairs I sigh loudly. "I'm not just any lady, you act as if I can’t kill a person with my bare hands." As I look at them with a smile, the knights look at me with confused expressions.

"First I get slapped in the face by this girl and get called degrading words in front of my closest friend, I allow her to continue on with her life after insulting the Artema household and now this?"

 The king looks at me with a shocked expression that is soon pointed towards his daughter. "We allow you to be protected with the knights from our home and this is the thanks that we receive from the royal family?" 

I move my dress away from my feet as I stand in front of them straight. "You are trying to kill me and then you expect my knights to do nothing all because we allowed you to have them near you for so long that you have forgotten who they truly belong to?" 

I walk towards the thrones as I put my hand on the throne where the queen is sitting and study the material. It's smooth and cold, the golden color seems to be its original color since there are no signs of fading, giving it the characteristic of gold. 

"I wonder what mother will do when she hears about this? After all, I told her it was nothing, but what would happen if I told her that my feelings were hurt?" The princess flinches as I smile now. "Or that the king's aides cut my face to the point of no recognition, all because I let his daughter live?"

"But you didn't..." the princess says as she takes a step back before she grabs her father’s arms. "You can’t let her do this! Dad please, she almost killed me!"

"Let go." He says as she goes quiet.

"But..." she manages to whisper before he glares at her this time.

I move away from them as I try to make my grand escape but I'm interrupted by the voice of a young man as he says "I'm sure that we can all come to an agreement if we all do things accordingly that is."

The young man walks up the stairs as he stands next to his father. 

'The golden lion.'

I bow my head in respect as he looks at me with a surprised expression. "I didn't think you would have enough patience to even think about bowing to me, especially in these circumstances."

His golden eyes look at me curiously as I shrug. "I am a person who is willing to acknowledge those who deserve respect, besides, you aren't the person who wronged me, as long as you don't. This respect that I hold for your highness will remain, at least until the day that you do."

He stares at me as he begins to look at my dress and smiles. "Gold looks quite well on you, my lady." he smiles as he closes his eyes and manages to change the subject but I don't allow it.

"The agreement. What is it?" I ask as I cross my arms and show him that I disapprove of him changing the subject.

"Of course, she will be punished." He says as he looks at his sister who now looks pale. 

He motions for something with his hands which causes one of the guards to run up and give him a weapon. I take a step back as I prepare myself for anything, especially for this man to try to kill me and he freezes. "I won’t aim my weapon at you, my lady."

"You can never be too sure these days," I say as his father grumbles a bit, probably from realizing how badly he screwed up.

"Grab her." He says as the guard pins the princess down to the floor as she is on her knees.

"What are you doing!" She screams as she looks at all of us with glares before she begins to cry. "No, wait! Brother, please! You can’t!"

He grabs her hair and in one swift move with his sword, he cuts it all off. 'You can’t be f*****g serious?!'

"With this, we have punished her, we hope that the Artema household may continue to have a splendid relationship with us-"

"Is this a joke?" I ask as I look at the princess on the floor who fainted upon the sight of her hair on the floor.

"What we..."

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?" I ask as all of them look at me with confusion. "Hair can always grow back, it doesn't change anything, for you to call this a punishment, what a joke!" I sigh as I look at them with a glare. "I don't want her useless hair; I prefer to see her blood. Think as if I were a man and ask yourselves, would it matter to me if a mere woman's hair got cut off her head, moreover would I even consider it a punishment in return for my name being insulted?"

The prince swallows hard as he looks at the hair in his hand "but to us our hair is the most important thing in our lives, it is proof that we are royalty. Its a sign from the Gods that they have chose us to lead this kingdom, I hope you can reconsider."

I look at his long hair that is up in a ponytail and I sigh softly this time. "Fine, I didn't expect much from you people anyway, but there won’t ever be a next time." I begin to walk away as I look at the princess that is laying down on the floor unconsciously "one more thing, I would consider re-teaching your children their priorities. Fainting over her hair being cut off, how pathetic really."

No one says a word as I walk down the stairs even Lenna quietly bows as she whispers something to the knights who listen to her carefully as they begin to follow us through the large doors.

"So, for your funeral..." Lenna says as she looks at me with a worried expression.

I wait as a second carriage arrives for me while she stands in front of the one that arrived for her.

"I want to be surrounded in red camellias, I'm tired of roses," I say as I get on my carriage and as soon as the door closes I sit with my hands in my forehead.

'If my mother did not have a reason to kill me, now she does...'