The King has no Heir?

Folle muerte(Mad Murder)

The knights were called to the scene and the servant woman on the ground looked like she had seen something that immediately made her go crazy. She was unresponsive and hysterical, screaming and kicking as people tried to suppress her.

"Greeting his highness!" the knights saluted.

"Report."

The knights gagged up the screaming woman and hits the back of her head. She was then tied up and carried away by other servants, maybe somewhere she could be treated.

or worst, killed.

"Sire, unfortunately there is no eyewitness. When our men got here, she was already howling like a madman and tried to scratch anyone who tried to get close to her." the place looked relatively normal and even the darkness the engulfed the whole country didn't seem to whisper danger. Looking around, the king noticed that this event happened near the new palace of the Sixth Princess. He could see lights from the top floor and a woman holding a child was staring at them.

It must be Joanna and Meya.

"Carefully search the area and leave nothing upturned and corners not explored. This is an order. As for the First brigade Knights, I will have to ask you to investigate the places in case the killer is still hiding in the premises."

"Yes Your Highness!"

So a thorough search was conducted in the middle of the night as complaints from palaces echoed. Joanna, holding the small sixth princess's hand watched as the other three servants with her guided the knights all over the place. When nothing was found, they left just as fast as they came.

"Oh this is terrible! Killings happening and now someone suddenly went mad?! Whoever is doing this must want all of us to go crazy!"

"Hush, now all of you make sure everything is locked and sleep again. But remember, never let your guard down."

"Yes miss Joana." the servants left to do as told while Joanna comforts the silent child.

"Were you startled by the scream your highness? Do you want to drink hot milk?" The child only stared at her, and she thought none of it as weird. Sickly children tends to be a bit different from other children most of the time. Maybe she is a bit slow due to constantly being sick, and it is up to Joana if this continues or not.

"Alright your highness let's have you tucked in and I'll make you some hot milk downstairs. I'll be back, alright?"

The woman lovingly places the child down and closes the double doors gently. As the pitter patter of shoes disappeared in the distance, those red orbs finally looked at the door and a soulless smile etched itself in the child's mouth.

"Insanity and Cruelty, shall free this palace."

Weeks go by, no one died. It made them think the killer was finally done with his bloody and cruel acts. However, being unable to catch the killer leaves people to think that whoever is killing people must be someone with capabilities, someone the king could not handle or someone whom the king isn't willing to catch.

This brings us to the hottest gossip around the palace: "Is his highness deliberately covering up for the murderer? Is he orchestrating the whole thing? Maybe his highness is killing them himself." and the sort.

"The doubt of the servants is spilling outside of the palace your highness. We must suppress this news and kill off anyone who speaks of it."

"No, too much killing is too much killing. The Prime Minister is becoming senile? Why do you want his highness to appear cruel?" Another man chimes, arrogance and blame on his voice. The fat man across him reddened and pointed a finger at him accusingly.

"You-! what do you mean by saying that?! do you mean I am plotting against his Majesty?!" the other man across him points out a finger, clearly red in anger. The man who spoke earlier gave him a blatant sarcastic scoff which made him redden in anger even more.

"Quiet. Nothing is resolved in chaos. Whoever is doing this would be dancing and clapping across the room if they see you like this." his Majesty sternly says. The whole room grew quiet, and there was an air of heaviness. The past weeks had been very stressful, with all the unsolved murders and the fear exaggerated rumors had given people.

Well, it isn't really necessary since with how the murders took place, everyone should already be in fear. The thing that angers them is that, all of this is being smeared unto his Majesty. His Majesty's reputation is already a tattered mess, adding this unto the pile is already burdening both his Majesty and his loyal courtiers.

"But excluding the part where we use violence, how do we ease the fear of the masses your highness?" A more peaceful looking courtier inquires. His Majesty seems to already have a plan in mind, looking at the ease on his face.

But actually, the man also had a hard time finding any solution to the ongoing murders. The clue he had was that the killer doesn't seem interested in the slightest about the property of the palace or the property of the servants they killed. The killer also killed mostly servants in a row. But why servants?

He doesn't know why. But there seems to be a pattern. Most of them had high positions or serves directly under some high rank or highly influencing parties or concubines. So far, the personal servants of the royal princesses were unharmed. Well- except for one.

The sixth princess seems to recover well. Reportedly she is a silent child who spends most of her time sleeping or reading. She isn't fond of the outside, and she likes to sleep under the old wisteria tree in the courtyard of the palace. Her new servants are also well and healthy. They're still looking for reasons as to why the killer killed off all the Sixth Princess's servants.

Concluding the meeting, his highness walked out of the court room about to have lunch when he caught sight of the Green Palace's roof ahead in the distance and had a thought to visit the child there.

"Prepare the carriage and let us head to the Green Palace to have lunch there."

"Alright, I'll send someone to notify ahead." But the king waves his hand, and entered the black and gold carriage that parked Infront of him.

"No need, just send in the food."

At the Green Palace, the three maids were cleaning up the residence and the knight was watching over the child who was sleeping under the wisteria tree, laying on a soft sheet.

For some, it may seem natural for a child to sleep a lot, but the Knight and the servants felt worried about how much more frequent this princess sleeps than when she's awake. It's even much more the times she spoke to them. Everytime she does is when she asks for food or when she asks to sleep.

If it were a normal child, like the other princesses, she would be going out to play, going out to spend time with children her age, or just running around to find anything entertaining. He thought she would be like them, loud and obnoxious, but she was not.

If you think he was happy, then he WAS. But gradually it made him feel off. Constantly sleeping isn't normal at all.

"Sleeping? It's still too early for a siesta is she tired?" the knight turned and saw his Majesty behind, walking towards them. Joana had halted on the side after leading his Majesty unto the garden.

"Greetings your Majesty!" the knight salutes. His Majesty raised a hand.

"As you were. We brought lunch in here to visit the princess yet it seems she is currently asleep." his deep red eyes narrowed, looking at the child with mixed emotions.

"Yes." the knight answered. In the silence, the man couldn't help but raise his concerns.

"Your Majesty, would you allow this servant to speak his mind to you?" Joana looked at Tino in surprise as his Majesty nods to the latter.

"Well, I asked the doctor who came here a day ago about the health of the Princess. I know I'm only her knight but we have all been worried about how she's living her life."

"Do you mean to say that the Princess is not living her life well?" the knight, at his highness's words, turned to look at the sleeping child for a moment, before turning back to the tyrant with firm eyes.

"Yes, that seems to be the case. You see, the doctor said the Princess is perfectly healthy, there was really no need for her to stay indoors all the time these days. Also, the doctor said her highness seems to have been drinking medications that were meant to cure all sorts of diseases but she did not really need to. I think drinking those made her body fragile." the King glanced at the maid, Joana who shook her head in agreement.

"Yes, I have written a full report on that your Majesty and had sent it to your office already." Joana stated, bowing her head.

"The point is, the princess does nothing all day but sleep. Joana tried to get her out of her room but she still sleeps. The other servants tried to offer her toys but she would just ride the wooden horse and sleep on it. I tried to take her on walks to appreciate flowers but as you can see she still slept. All day, everyday. I implore his Majesty, what should we do? If this continues, her Majesty will deteriorate even more. She doesn't even speak a word more than two, and the only activity I see her do is eat. It's really unhealthy." The king could see that he genuinely cares for his master.

"That is indeed unhealthy and quite depressing. I will talk to her about this and form an everyday schedule for her."

The sleeping child suddenly shot up, as if she just came from a really bad nightmare. Then, realizing it was all just a dream, the initial shock on her face subsides and she became emotionless again.

"Well, good morning princess." she turned and saw the king and his companions, as well as her knight and Joana.

"Yes." but even so, her answer was just as monotone and bland as it could get.

"I brought over lunch to eat with you."

Average children would have a bit of astonished look, even if they're cold.

But as still as water in an undisturbed pond, the child stood up in an unhurried manner.

They had lunch in the Palace's garden, under a big wisteria tree. Amongst all the wisterias in this palace, this has to be the oldest and the biggest. It was said that these trees were already abundant in the Palace ground even before the construction of the place. As respect to the old species of trees, they previous palace owners had never cut down all of them.

"How is the food?" with how silent this lunch had been going, the king had to open up a conversation somehow.

"Fine."

The breeze blew past them, and the child's long blond hair fluttered a bit. Truly, in all of his children, this one looked exactly like him.

"How about you accompany me to survey the lands of the south next day?" He didn't know why, but he wanted to take the child with him, to see the south where her mother had come from.

"South...?" But why, those eyes seem to ask. The king finally smiled, seeing an emotion other than coldness upon those eyes.

"Well, I have to meet a comrade of mine and check on the production of grain and the harvesting of soil products." Ah, yes. The south territory is in charge of the produce and the King himself would have to go and oversee the production and harvest from time to time.

"I can?"

"But ofcourse?" the King saw the look of surprise in the child's face and then the hesitation. She started to fiddle with her spoon and fork.

"But Nana said, I'll get killed. " There was a subtle confusion in her face, looking eye to eye with the king. Now it makes him wonder, how was she raised?

" Although outside is truly fearsome at times, it does not mean that we should stay inside and hide. There are beautiful things outside you see? It's bonkers to say you'll get killed immediately! I am the king, I can at least keep you safe." The smile on his face, coupled with the halo made by the soft sun, the child felt like he saw salvation....

"Cool." The king looked surprised from across the table, but then he felt a bout of gladness. It was at this moment, looking at such a small, naive child, that he decided to care for her.

After all, she has no one now.

Ah, he's finally rearing a small child himself. Not the Queen, not the consorts, but him.

When he left, the child raised a hand to wave at him. Right after lunch, he played catch the ball with the baby and felt sweetness in his heart.

"Make preparations for tomorrow, the earlier we go the better."

"Will her highness be alright if she comes with us your Highness?"

"But ofcourse. Its even perfect. Now, no one would think of killing her off that easily." The right hand man also thinks this is good. He truly pity such a child, who had no one. Fortunately, his Majesty seem to have decided to step up to the plate of child rearing. He had known his highness from childhood, that look on his face says a lot.

When the night came, knights and palace guards patrolled the area. From a distant palace, which was made out of gold and the finest of sand pillars, a woman donning a red gown and silver crown inlaid with rubies, frowned at the news she had received.

"Is he planning to take care of that wenches child? Playing father now are we?" Her beautiful voice is poisonous, sarcasm filled her eyes and her voice. She waved the servant out and walked towards the person by the balcony, and hugged her.

"Mother, why is father like this? He is such a great man! But he took home a dirty woman from the south and had a child with her, breeding such a stain in our long line of noble holy blood. Now he cares for such a stain and still rejects me!" The hug tightened around the child, and the mother whispers to her.

"He is being deceived by the devil. That is why, mother will do everything to get him back from the clutches of evil and you on the other hand, shall inherit his legacy as the righteous heir picked solely by God." The cold wind blew, the two stood there in their own world.

That's right, her child is the rightful heir to the throne.

A shrill scream resounded in the morning. Everyone expected there to be a dead person, but no. This time, the perpetrator had cut off the heads of the statues made from the likeness of the royal family. All of the children's heads, except the First princess had been cut off. It was cut off cleanly that even the King looked on with awe.

"This is clearly done by a short blade but it's so clean and skillfully cut!"

"Your highness this is no time to joke! Someone is plotting against the Royal Family!" The courtiers were so incensed

that their faces had grown red in anger.

"Investigate this immediately!" an older courtier exclaimed.

"Yes!" As the servant knight left, the king also turned to leave.

"I will leave these all to you and go south. It is time to check in the production of fodder."

As planned, the king sets out with a few Royal Knights, his right-hand man and his secret guards hiding in the shadows. They were traveling light, with only two carriages and horses for each person.

"Come to think of it, this would be the first time her highness would see the outside world beyond the walls of the Royal Palace right?" his right hand man who was riding a horse beside their carriage wondered. Come to think of it, it was really her first time. He turned to the small person looking out of the other window, with the wind blowing on her face. Joana sat beside her, making sure she wouldn't fall out.

"She seems happy." there was a hint of glimmer on those dead eyes, it was not much but that was an improvement.

"We will arrive in three days, might as well stop by the Moon Canyons and sight see, what do you think your Majesty?" the man looked back to his right hand man, and thought about it.

"Joana..." the maid places her embroidery down and took out some candies from the fruit jar. She had them made before they left, it was her highness's favorite.

"Just two okay?" the round , glistening wall of sugar around the candied grapes and strawberries glistened under the sun. Those were sticky, so they had stick handles which two small hands received readily.

"Thank you." His highness the Emperor was taking a quick nap, and the nanny was busy embroidering. The child was eating candied fruit. Other than that, the trip should have been peaceful.

That is until they decided to camp out for the night.

The sixth princess looked around the tent she was going to sleep in, and then jumped on the bundle of comforters with a sigh. Joana laughs, and proceeded to go and prepare her bath for the night.

"Your highness." But she ran into his highness, who seem to be heading towards their temporary dwelling.

"Where is the sixth princess?"

"In her tent your highness, with her knight." she was already carrying a bucket of water and towels for her highness as she led them to the tent.

"Your highness!" from inside the tent, the sixth princess hears her knight exclaim. Then in came her father and two of his close subordinates. One of them was his right hand man.

"Child?" the child stood near the tent's light source, with a book in her small hands. As usual, she wore an indifferent expression, staring at the king with no intentions of greeting him at all.

But that was okay, somehow he felt like she was scrutinizing him all the time and he will gladly let her do so. Joana conjured a set of table and chair so that his highness and her highness could sit across each other. The two subordinates stood to the side, silently. Joana put off bathing her highness and instead, served dinner for the two people.

"How do you feel about the journey so far?"

"Amazing." Although that was said with little to no emotion, there was a visible trace of wonder in his eyes. Xenon nods with a smile on his lips.

"You will enjoy the rest of the journey more, since we're going past the elven forest and past the grand snowy mountains of Albiertine. How fun, right?"

The little Princess just nods, and continued looking at the king.

"Have you eaten?"

"Not yet, your highness." the king ordered his dinner be eaten with the sixth princess. Outside the tent, the knights accompanying the King's journey was having a conversation amongst themselves.

"The king seems fond of the sixth princess recently, is she going to be named heir?"

"Quiet! You do not know what you're talking about. Do you want to die early?!" A veteran knight reprimands the young knight who immediately shuts his mouth with a scared expression.

"However, he is right. I wonder if his Majesty wants to raise the princess?"

The sixth princess, born from a woman his highness brought from a conquered country. She who di d right after childbirth, leaving this child who doesn't seem to have much emotion.

"She's really silent and always cooped up within the carriage. However, she resembles his highness very much does she?" The princess's knight, who was sitting with them , stayed silent. He wanted to just listen in, but some knights mouth really just can't pick a word to use.

"She may look like his Majesty, but her blood isn't all noble, unlike the other princesses. Ofcourse, she also doesn't have the qualifications of being heir due to having no talent in soul aura. The best she could be is a royal minister, under his highness's care. She also has no education, compared to the first princess who is noble inside and outside. Her blood is tainted with dirty colonized blood, so how can she be heir?"

The look on his face seem to be mocking the princess, and he did not see the fist coming his way. When he came to, he was already on the bed of the temporary clinic.

"Which Damn bastard-!"

That damn bastard sat Infront of his highness with his head bowed after explaining why he had punched a knight half dead.

"So you rushed to harm him for bad mouthing royalty?" the king asked in his cold tone. The knight shivered, and answers the king with a firm voice.

"Yes your highness." It was now or never, after all it was his fault. But he really could not stand anyone badmouthing her highness.

"You're very loyal, makes me feel at ease." the Knight's head shot up, looking at the king who now had a smile on his lips.

"Yes sir...?"

"Continue to beat up anyone that badmouths the princess. They ought to know not to insult my child."

"Yes...Yes your highness!"

After the commotion, everybody went to rest. However, danger lurked in the dark.

A pair of beautiful red bejewelled red eyes opens, and a glint passes by them. Birds fly out of the branches in a rustled hurry, and the wind blew ominously.

In the early hours of the morning, Joana gathers herself to prepare her highness's bath.

However, a shrill scream echoes right after.

"What happened?!" the Knight's and the king ran over to the tent of her highness, but only found her maid.

"Your highness! Her highness is gone!"

And with her, lives of the King's horses. All of them had been gutted out, but none of them heard anything last night.

The killer was silent, yet his works were grotesque.

"What is this madness..." the veteran knight exclaimed while the king deployed men to find the little child all over the place.