The view as the sun rose was beautiful. This is all she looks forward to every single morning. This and nothing else. She has no motivation in this life; nothing keeps her going. She hopes to die soon. But death isn't something you can bring upon yourself here.
She lets down her snow-white curly hair that lands softly onto her back. She smiles. She leans over the balcony and lest the soft breeze brush gently over her pale skin. The glowy orange shade of the sun reflects itself against her skin.
She can feel the footsteps behind her. She knew exactly who that was, and a frown immediately settled on her face.
"My lad-"
"I'm having my day off today. I don't want to be disturbed."
She states in an annoyed manner not turning back to face whoever was behind her.
"But you had your day off yesterday."
"And I'll have another day off today too."
"Your father's orders"
She then groans in frustration and turns back to look at her, her red eyes piercing right through her personal maid.
"Deal with it, I don't care how. I have somewhere I need to be."
"My princess, an important event is to take place today. You of all people cannot afford to miss this."
Event?
Why was she unaware of anything that was to happen today? Well, of course! Her damn brothers would never tell her.
Her personal maid noted the confusion on her face and immediately explained the situation.
"your eldest brother's army managed to capture the reaper. They are on their way back from the battle and will arrive soon. The execution will take place as soon as they arrive. So you had better get ready princess. Your father's orders." She bowed. "Everything is ready. If you need anything else, feel free to call me." She walked out of the room hastily, most likely avoiding any orders from the princess.
The reaper.
The reaper who had killed a lot of her people.
Her mother included.
The late queen.
The thought of that left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She wants to rip it apart with her own hands. Normally , a representative guardian of the royal family would kill such. But she wasn't a guardian anymore.
She will do it regardless.
.
.
She dressed herself today in her guardian uniform and made her hair into a bun.
Looking at the mirror, she got nothing but bitter memories. Maybe if she killed the reaper today she might get rid of the bitterness in her heart. The thought of it only made her more bitter. What would she even gain by that? Would she consider that revenge?
Revenge?
She would still do it.
She got out of her room with her sword in her hand. She threw it over to one of her guards.
"Last minute brushes. Make it sharper than ever."
"Y-Y-Yes M-my lady!!!"
He wasn't the only shaky one.
Everyone on the hallway; the maids and guards all stood there with shock written all over their faces. What happened to the princess?
The only person who had a normal resting face was her personal maid. She wasn't intimidated at all.
The princess then pointed at two of her guards. "The two of you come with me. The rest of you are free from duty for now."
She declared and majestically walked through the hallways headed for the throne room.
Everyone else was left in silence.
She quit being a guardian and spent all her time in her room reading pointless books, as they would term it. After the queen's death, she descended from being the invincible warrior princess to a very dainty and fragile princess who was couped up in her room reading.
She hadn't landed a single order to her guards , only occasionally asking them to bring her daisies or roses. Or when she wanted a piggy back ride across her garden.
So, yes. Their shock was valid.
.
.
.
The double doors leading to the throne room opened, revealing the princess standing there majestically. Her six brothers were all sitted there. They all glared at her as if she was lost or she was doing something illegal. Her father who sat at the throne stared at her in confusion too. She walked over stealthily to where her brothers stood.
She bowed for the king.
"I'll kill him."
She declared.
Before she could say another word, the throne room was filled with a deafening laughter.
Her brothers were laughing at her.
She wasn't surprised at all. Of all the things that could have happened when she walked in here, she had expected this the most. Nothing made her budge. Not even their words.
"Oh so she's done fantasizing with her useless books now she wants to kill the reaper?!"
"She thinks she's the main character or something!!!!"
"Get back to your room!!! We don't need a weakling right now."
"Might as well follow your mother to the grave. No wonder you are so weak. A pathetic woman, of course, gave birth to a pathetic little bitch like you-"
She didn't budge. But the king did.
"Enough."
Silence.
"Iris will do the execution."
"But-"
"And the next time, I'll forget you are my children if you if you disrespect my wife." He declared, and waved his hand in the air as a sign of dismissal.
They all walked out of the throne room, all lurking behind Iris.
She ignored them. She always does. Of course, they curse at her, spit insults and threats. All which mean nothing to Iris.
Iris walks to the execution floor, which is directly across her room.
Weird, right?
All her life she has witnessed countless executions.
Ever since she was a child.
Traumatic, right?
This is the first she steps in the room. Her eyes wander around grasping every single detail of this room where countless murders occurred. She walks slowly over the dried up blood. On one corner she sees the stack of bones, probably from all those who lost their lives here.
The stench of blood.
It's suffocating.
She takes out her white handkerchief and covers her nose. How do the guards even survive in here?
At the wall, she sees a lot of writings. Some in the symbols her people use, others in recognizable symbols and others in symbols she's never seen before.
So many people have died here.
People from different places.
They probably deserved it.
Her eye notices a very familiar symbol on the wall.
Her name.
Iris.
Why is her name written on the wall?
Before she asks, one of her guards walk in with her sword in her hand. He hands it over to her.
"The first prince has arrived through the gate, my princess. You have to go down to the procession"
Fuck that stupid murderous procession.
She hates it.
But this time, its different. She wants to attend. She must do it.
"Understood. I'll be there in a minute."
He bows respectfully and exits the room.
The princess walks over to the window. There, she can see the whole procession from afar as they approach the golden gates that lead to the castle. She can't wait.
To kill someone?
Not just someone. The reaper.
Just as she was about to turn to leave, she noticed something, rather someone on top of the golden gate. Cloaked up with his face completely covered up.
Who was that?
And why was he or she staring at the reaper like that?
Iris looked back down at the reaper and noticed that he had looked up at the person who sat on the gate playing with two knives in his hands.
Was the person planning on killing the reaper?
The princess instinctively knew what was about to happen and she shouted at the guards escorting her brother and the reaper to immediately attack whoever was at the gate.
But the person was fast.
So damn fast.
By the time the guards noticed someone was at the gate, the person had already leapt down to where the reaper was and he cut his head off.
Like it was a damn easy job.
Just like that, his head was sent rolling on the ground.
The person, satisfied, turned back and leapt back onto the gate, then onto the roofs of the houses nearby and he took off.
Everyone was shocked, including the prince, and they stood there processing whatever was going on.
The princess however, was pissed beyond reasoning. This was her kill. Who dares take away her kill? Just as a hunter would react to another person taking its prey, she leapt out through the window of the execution room and immediately went after the killer.
He was fast.
But not as fast as a guardian with royal blood.
The princess grew impatient, as she wanted to beat the shit out of that jerk as soon as possible. She would kill him.
Kill?
Yes. Kill him.
" stop running right this instance. Or I'll-"
Her statement was cut short as the person running from her sent not less that 10 blades towards her. Oh, this was fun!!
Finally, she went against someone who actually matched her skill.
She skillfully dodged all the blades and sent one right back at the person.
It missed.
She had no choice but to use her magic. With a few words, a white beam glowed from her hands and went straight to her target . the target stopped moving.
An immobility spell.
"Got you!!"
She immediately ran to where he stood as many of her royal guards surrounded the target too with weapons ready just in case of anything. With one swift movement, the princess took off the clock that covered his face with a satisfying smirk on her face.
"Let's see who you-"
Everyone gasped including the princess, others murmuring in disbelief.
There was no way.
"You are….a girl?"