Prince Julian mentally cursed when Prince Easton finally pulled his long shiny sword away from his neck. Prince Easton offered Prince Julian a playful smile before he shoved his sword back to its sheath tied around his hip. Prince Julian can't help but glare at his older brother when he finally has his back on him. He copied his older brother's actions: put his sword back to its sheath and turned his back on him. He clenched his jaw while glaring at the ground. He lost against his older brother in their sword fight, again and again. Actually, he never won at least once. He's always the loser in whatever fight he had with his brother. Prince Easton is always better than him in everything. People love him more. The girl that she likes is not interested in him but in Prince Easton. And most importantly, in everyone's eyes, Prince Easton is the one who should succeed the King's crown.
Prince Julian can hear his younger sister, Princess Alaia, asking Prince Easton about the new move that he used to Julian. He tightly hold the grip of his sword and tried to gulp the tightness on his chest. After announcing that he will get inside the palace already to drink some water, he walked away from their spacious garden without looking back at them.
Prince Julian didn't go to the kitchen to drink some water but walked toward his room. Before he even reached his room, he came across his mother, the queen. Queen Brianna's brows arched up at the sight of her son, obviously pissed with his eyebrows almost forming a straight line. Just when Julian was about to walk past her, she reached out for Julian's wrist and lightly pulled him to face her.
"Why does my son look so pissed?" Queen Brianna sweetly asked, staring directly at her son's eyes, trying to read what was on his mind through his eyes.
Prince Julian averted his eyes from his mother and removed his mother's hand on his wrist. With coldness and a clear irritation in his voice, he answered "It was nothing mother. I'm okay."
Prince Julian again was supposed to excuse himself when her mother grabbed both of his shoulders and turned his body towards her.
"There's no way I will ever be fooled with those words, my son. I knew you too well to believe that easily."
Prince Julian just clenched his fists hard and looked away from his mother.
The queen leaned her face closer to the prince's ear and whispered, "It was because of Easton, right?"
The prince flinched in surprise that her mother guessed right the root of his annoyance and stress almost every day. However, he didn't let it be shown on his face. He kept a straight expression and looked up at his mother.
"It's not mom. I'm just tired. Please let me go to my room now."
"No, Julian. Answer my question honestly." The queen whispered in a low voice but hard tone.
The prince heaved an exasperated breath and just shook his head, repeatedly.
"I heard King Leonardo talking with Minister Baron that he will pass the crown to him and not to you." The queen whispered in a lower voice and a harder tone.
Her mother's statement only irritated more Prince Julian. He felt the tightness on his chest becoming even tighter. His head is throbbing in pain and his sour mood is becoming even sourer. He glared at his mother and said with bitterness and a low voice, "I know mom. I know that already. I knew that from the beginning. He's always better in everything I do. People love him more than me. I knew that I will always be a loser to him. You no longer need-"
"You're not, son. I will never allow that to happen. We will not allow that you won't be the next king."
Prince Julian closed his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. He shook his head lightly before he opened his eyes once again to look at his mother, dejectedly.
"No, Mom. There's nothing we can do about it. I already did everything to impress the king but it's only resulted in him seeing that Easton is much better than me. You said it yourself that the king had already decided. Let's just-"
"I refused to accept that. If I need to dirty my hands just for you to reign as the king, I won't hesitate in doing that."
Prince Julian's eyes widen at his mother's revelation. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to absorb the blunt words. He spaced out for several seconds, asking himself if what he heard is true. Prince Julian opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out of his mouth so he just shut it close again when he realized that he has nothing to say, or he was too overwhelmed to say something.
"Go, rest for now. We'll talk again later."
Prince Julian slowly nodded his head even though he barely understood something. He was about to walk away from his mother when his mother stopped him again by lightly tugging on his wrist. Prince Julian waited for his mother to say something but Queen Brianna just stared at him for a couple of seconds before she smiled that barely reach her eyes.
"Nothing, son. Just go and rest."
-
One great afternoon, Princess Alaia and Prince Julian just arrived at the palace from the city of Vines. They visited a good friend of their father as he instructed. While their older brother, Prince Easton was in the Kingdom of Carval as a representative of their country to establish a diplomatic relationship.
The princess and the prince is currently bickering over something that they saw when they accidentally heard the conversation of the two guards who didn't notice their presence. They didn't hear what exactly they are talking about but with the words ill, fell, and the king, their curiosity arises as they walked toward them.
"What are you two talking about?" Prince Julian asked, hands on his waist.
The two guards flinched in surprise and immediately kneeled and lowered their heads to show their respects.
"P-Prince Julian. P-Princess Alaia." The guards mumbled in unison, trembling in nervousness.
"You may now stand up and just answer my brother's question." The princess friendly said and gave the two guards, light taps on their shoulders.
The two guards immediately stood up and looked straight into the two with full of respect.
"It was the king. We heard that he passed out earlier and now can't rise from the bed."
Alaia and Julian's eyes widen at the news. Alaia gulped down in nervousness and fear at the image of her father being helpless, lying on his bed.
"Are you telling the truth?" Prince Julian asked, grabbing one of the guard's clothes, and startling the guards.
The guard looked down in fear and stumbled on his word.
"Y-Yes Prince Julian."
"What happened? Why did father suddenly fall? Is he sick?" Princess Alaia asked, her clenched fists tightening.
"W-We're very sorry but we didn't know the exact reason."
Prince Julian released the guard and turned his back on the two guards. The two royal kids ran towards their father's room, steps getting bigger and bigger the closer they get to the humongous room. Their black boots are being loud but they couldn't care anything more about that. The only thing that is running on their mind is to reach the king's room as soon as possible.
"Father!" Princess Alaia called as soon as the door burst open, revealing their father on the bed, their mother sitting on the bed, holding the king's hand closer to her face. Alaia ran towards the king and hugged him tightly, tears already threatening to fall.
"Father, what happened? I heard you fell and can't get up until now. Are you sick?" Princess Alaia asked after lifting herself from lightly squishing his father.
The King can't help but giggle at the cuteness of his daughter.
"I'm okay. Maybe I fell due to exhaustion but I'm feeling perfectly fine now." The king assured even though the truth is his body felt so weak. He isn't feeling any pain in his body but ever since he fell, he can't get up. He insisted that this was all because of exhaustion and a couple of hours of rest would make him perfectly fine.
The princess however doesn't look convinced as she is still throwing worried stares at his father.
"Alaia rest assured, I'm sure father will soon be okay." Prince Julian said, giving Alaia light taps on her back. The light taps and reassurance from her older brother at least make Alaia feels better.
"How is Yoshino?" The King inquired, switching the topic, referring to his good friend that he asked for them to pay a visit.
The once gloomy Alaia suddenly gets excited. She sat down at the edge of the bed and started telling what happened during their visit with the said man. In the middle of their conversation, Queen Brianna excused herself, reasoning that she will ask the servants to prepare some food for the king. Seconds after Queen Brianna left the room, Prince Julian excused himself and followed his mom. When the prince has stepped out of the room, the queen is standing just beside the door and looks like waiting for him to step out.
"Mom." Prince Julian called. The queen didn't say anything and just motioned for her son to follow her which the prince gladly did. When the lock of the door where they enter clicked, Julian no longer waited for her mother to look back and asked, "Mom-"
"Yes. Whatever you are thinking, you're right." The queen interjected, oozing with determination.
Prince Julian stared coldly at his mother, doesn't know how to react to the news. He doesn't have any idea what is he supposed to say. So, he just closed his eyes tightly after staring at his mother for a couple of seconds.
"Do we-" - The prince took a deep breath before he finish his question. "Do we really need to do this? Is there really no other way?"
"Yes." The queen again answered, not faltering for at least a second.
The prince stared at his mother for two long seconds before he averted his eyes towards the floor and then nodded his head in understanding.
Two days after the king suddenly gets sick, the whole kingdom was enveloped by depressing news, the king died due to a mysterious illness, at least that's what everyone believes in because that's what the doctor said. Unfortunately, the doctor was an accomplice of the queen, not voluntarily though. The queen just threatened him, holding the neck of the doctor's family.
Princess Alaia is feeling really exhausted from all the crying she did for the whole day. She just can't believe that the king is already dead even though 3 days ago he was still doing perfectly fine. She just can't accept it. Alaia doesn't know how will she move on with the news. But she haven't fully grasped the situation yet when she received another bad news. Her older brother, Prince Easton, together with his whole team was ambushed on their way back to the Kingdom and sadly, no one managed to escape and stay alive.
Everything was all just too much for the princess. The pace of events is just too fast for her. One moment she's having lunch with her whole family, laughing over nonsense things then the next thing she's mourning over her dead father and brother. It felt like heaven is punishing her and her whole family.
Feeling really exhausted but can't bring herself to sleep, the princess stepped out of her room to drink some water. On her way to the kitchen, she saw her mother and brother drinking some wine in the garden. That isn't unusual but when she caught a glimpse of her mother's smile, Alaia's brows knitted in confusion then slowly walked closer to them, making sure not to make any noise or be noticed. She just finds it weird to see her mother and brother, looking happy and grateful when they were supposed to be mourning.
"Tomorrow will be the start of a new day for us my son Prince Julian or should I say, King Julian?"
The statement elicited giggles from the two but put a frown on the princess's lips.
"Mom, thank you for doing all of this for me. I can't believe I'm so close to being the king of this kingdom. If not for your plans, this day maybe would never happen."
Princess Alaia felt her chest tighten at the revelation. Finally, the points are now starting to be connected. She's now starting to understand how everything resulted in this. Before she can even stop herself, Princess Alaia had already stepped out from where she was hiding.
"So you two planned for this?"
The queen and the prince snapped their heads in the princess's direction, eyes widening in fear and surprise.
"You killed dad and brother just so this guy can be the king?" The princess bitterly asked, pointing her finger at her older brother Julian. Her respect for the two is slowly ceasing, leaving nothing within her.
"A-Alaia. L-Let us explain-"
"Explain what? Explain how you to became greedy for power and became selfish to plan in killing them?" Princess Alaia interrupted her brother, tears are now streaming down her face again.
"N-No. I-It's not like that-"
"Then what?" Princess Alaia half-shouted. The prince just stared at her. Fear of being hated by his sister and losing everything is now weighing his shoulders. He's losing his focus and can't think of anything. He tried to open his mouth to explain but can't think of anything to be used as an excuse because what they really did towards his father and older brother is unjustifiable.
"You know what? Enough of this. Because I will never let the two of you live happily just like what you planned, I'm going to tell this to everyone so you two will rot in prison."
Princess Alaia spitted out and was about to turn her back on them to run towards the inside but the queen is quick to stop her. She hold her still and then looked back at her son, "Kill her." The queen uttered without any conviction.
The princess and the prince's eyes widen in shock at the queen's command. The princess looked back at her mother in shock, losing all her strength in what she heard. She just can't believe that her mother will ask her brother to kill her. She wanted to say something, maybe curse her mother for being greedy for power but can't bring herself to say something. She also wanted to break free from her mother but she doesn't have the strength to do that. For unknown reasons, she can't bring herself to do that. She felt so weak. She felt so helpless.
"Kill her." The queen again commanded in a low but hard tone.
Alaia looked back at her brother and stared directly into his eyes. She clearly sees the fear and the tears that escaped her brother's eyes before his trembling hand pulled out the knife on his side. He walked slowly toward Alaia and never take his eyes off his sister.
"I-I'm sorry, Alaia."
Prince Julian uttered and kissed Alaia on top of her head before thrusting his knife on Alaia multiple times until Alaia's vision get blurry and then turned into black.