Royal Assassin

Chapter 3

Red…Blue…

Blood…the night…

Chaos, fear, revenge, war…

Those were nightmares, no they were real nightmares, a sick memory longed to be forgotten but came back, haunting him in his dreams…

He remembered it, vividly. He hated it. It pained him but he couldn’t stop the memories that were flooding in on him.

Why must the horror return tonight – not to mention on the eve of his wedding?

I am never satisfied with my life. I liked being Prince and yet I disliked it. I hated the workload imposed on me but I liked its privilege. All those times, when I couldn’t convince my father to stop the war, I easily gave up and blocked the world of politics out of my insides. Instead, I played around with girls and women and trampled with people’s feelings and possessions. I wished to help but I knew I didn’t want to clean up the mess of my father’s. All those people lying and begging desperately on my feet, those sad eyes should be stared into my father’s not me. He was the King not me. I am not obligated to this. I am not responsible for this. Why should I take this burden? Father, you were the one who made me look bad! You were the one who hurt this country and yet I, why was I blamed for not stopping the war? Why do people whisper such ills of me? Why do I have to give a damn about the people when they were obviously YOUR PEOPLE!?

But one night changed everything…

I remembered, because that night was when I believed my wish came true. I wished for my father to die.

That night, I was on my way to my chamber. I was coming from the castle’s library after doing some readings. I didn’t realise it had gotten so late. And so, I packed up and left. My chamber was quite far and I’ve had always passed my father’s chamber on the way. As I passed by his chamber, I felt a gush of cold wind coming from inside his room. And to my horror, my father was sleeping soundly with blood decorating his bed. I froze and that was when I saw a black figure that stood by the window. My feet managed to rush over to that black creature but what I saw was not a beast, but a person, wrapped and donned in black that were damped with the colour of liquid crimson, flowing ruby – blood, as the moon ray highlighted the person’s colour. His black attire concealed everything on him except for his eyes and nose, and for a flash moment I realized why I feared. It was because that person’s eyes were sapphires encircled with dark crimson circles. That’s right; Jaden has the same eye colour as that person.

“Deep red…Dark Blue…Blood is spilled and the night has sunk, chaos, fear, revenge and war…” that black assassin spoke and jumped out of the window and was nowhere to be seen.

The next day, words of the King’s death reached everyone. People didn’t know if they should rejoice as they were freed from his wraths or should they mourn out of fear or to show loyalty. I didn’t care what the people’s reactions were but it didn’t change the fact that I’d wished for him to die. It didn’t make any difference to say I’d killed him as well.

Even though I didn’t get my hands dirtied, as what people always claimed me as, I’ve had never felt so hollow in my life.

Deep red…Dark Blue…Blood is spilled and the night has sunk; chaos, fear, revenge and war…

Chaos…the war before Father died.

Fear…the sufferings of the people of both countries.

Revenge…my hatred toward him.

War…I got it, his death didn’t stop the war either. Once again, I had to clean up this horrible mess.

“Soon, you are going to meet your demise…” suddenly Jaden’s words echoed in my head. Infact all the ill-fortune words were starting to poison my mind.

Blood, spilled, sunk, war, chaos, fear, revenge, demise, crimson, and sapphires, black, death, my father, sadness, sorrow, killed him…

This chain of terror may not stop. Once again, I blamed him for this, for making my life so miserable, and now I’m going to be hunted. I’m going to be killed. I’m going to die. And I’m scared.

“Your Highness, Your Highness! Please wake up sire”, Justin’s attendant intruded into his chamber when Justin didn’t respond from his knocking.

His eyes fluttered opened and his breathing was hard. His attendant was shaking his head at Justin’s appearance, “Did you not sleep well, your majesty?”

“I’m fine”, Justin was relieved that he could answer his people, “I think I need a glass of water. Just a nightmare”. And the attendant ordered his members to fetch the Prince a glass of water.

“Are you really sure, Prince Justin?” the attendant sounded deeply concern, “A nightmare at this kind of moment sounds troubling”.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine”, Justin managed to be firm about it. He really hated to make people worry about him.

The wedding and also the Prince’s coronation went smoothly with no casualties. And the royal newlyweds were currently witnessing a dueling event from the people and the soldiers. Everyone was cheering joyfully, rooting and supporting their favourites.

However, Jaden seemed bored at the scene. “You must be so wealthy to waste money on this kind of event”.

“To you, it may seem that way. But the people need it. It’s escapism from those harsh realities they face. Besides, various traders from all over the world come and go and it’s good for the local business”, explained Justin as a matter of fact.

“Ah…when you put it that way, I understand”, Jaden realized her error of judgment.

Justin noticed that her tone wasn’t hostile at all. Maybe she’s warming up to him, he hoped at least. “Well, as expected from the Vast princess, your knowledge on business is insightful, isn’t it?”

And for the first time it seemed that Justin had sparked an interest from her. Jaden ended up conversing with him on topics of business and economics, stuffs that he used to dread learning about. And Justin couldn’t help feel a bit delighted seeing her face filled with a glow of excitement when she discussed her favorite topic. But somehow the topic became more twisted and deep and dark.

“Maybe war is necessary”, Jaden sighed as she spoke. Justin was shocked to hear such controversial statement, “After all it feeds those who sell weapons, those who fight for their country, it gives a reason for people to hate, to hope, and to live I guess…I’m not making any sense. I think you should take back your compliments on my knowledge being insightful because if my knowledge was any useful, why is my country so poor even when we have diamonds? Why are my people so sad and sorrowful? Why do I feel so useless even when I’m marrying for the greater cause?” She cupped her face in her hands as though blocking out the turmoil inside.

But Justin gently pulled her right hand and rested it firmly on the armchair with his hand on top of hers. Jaden was taken aback. He posed a sad smile as though he truly understood how she felt about the useless war, “But war doesn’t last forever, Jaden. If any other human in other countries can achieve peace, then so can we, together”.

Dammit! Jaden finally realized that she was exposing her raw self in front of this Prince Boy. She didn’t care if he was King. To her, he was still a kid. After all, she was older than him by five years.

She tried to retaliate those affectionate gesture acted by Justin. She attempted to lift her hand and brush his off but his hold on her hand was firm and solid. He was strong or she was lacking practice ever since her stay in Gallant. She could struggle all she wanted and made him pay for that kind of casual touch but it would attract attention and just then Jaden finally noticed a small sly came over her husband’s face. He really had her. And she felt played.

From that point on, her mood became subdued as well. It was as though she built walls around her. Justin was actually disappointed at her moodiness, he called it. Geez, I was only teasing a bit and now she’s giving me the silent treatment! Justin reflected on his actions. This may take a while for both of them to get used to each other. He even wondered if friendship was even possible between him and Jaden.

But still his grip on her remained. Even though Jaden stopped talking to him, Justin at times stole a few gazes on her. He observed her features from the sides but most of all he was fixated on her eye. Those sapphire-crimsoned eyes of hers – they used to scare him because of his nightmare, his dark past and reminded him of the loss and foolish despair he put himself and the country through. But for the moment, he just wanted to stare deeply into her eyes and decipher her thoughts and feelings…

On second thought, this was indeed scary, because it sounded almost like he was attracted to her. This was dangerous.

Jaden was not the type who was oblivious to such things and she could sense his intense stares on her. It irked and embarrassed her on so many levels. But she tried to remain calm. She tried to put on a poker face. But her heart was racing un-proportionately and she cursed herself for starting to be swayed by such trivial especially from the likes of him.

I need to train after this, thought Jaden. Focus on the mission.