Cost of the Crown (UNREVISED VERSION)

Rosewood

After the execution, Sarah went back to the castle with Eric, leaving both Hans and Cedric devastated as the crowd whispered and gossiped among the laughs of the king and the queen.

After the two youngest royals left the plaza, Sandra looked at the people slightly confused, much like someone possessed her body until the execution.

When the two arrived back at the castle, they went into a dark room then opened the lights to see Maria tied onto a chair.

Sarah takes off Maria's blindfold to which makes the young girl squirm and wanting to kick Sarah in the face.

"What's your damage?!" Maria yelled at them.

"Hey, hey... I just saved you from public execution." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"No wonder you needed to slice through my cheek." Maria replied. "Why not my hand?!"

"Hassle." Eric explained.

"Now explain to me what you did." Maria ordered.

"Should we?" Eric whispered.

"You'll erase her memories anyway, so go for it." Sarah replied.

"Um... Hello! I'm right here." Maria raised a brow, impatiently.

"First of all, it was not in our plan to pull Hans into all of this shenanigans!" Eric pointed at Sarah. "I know Venice is alive, but I don't care. You just broke Hans' heart."

"Again! I'm right here." Maria yelled.

Eric glanced at Maria then took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.

"So, Sarah controlled you along with Sandra." Eric explained.

"Then I locked you here so you won't intervene with the plan." Sarah continued. "We got a replacement person for you and it was a random corpse from the graveyard that I brought back to life using your blood and some of Sandra's magic."

"No wonder Sandra was awfully silent!" Eric hit the back of Sarah's head. "You could have explained."

"Ehem?" Maria said.

"Oh yeah... The one who got executed was the doppelganger. You're welcome." Sarah continued.

"How about my brother?" Maria asked.

"Oh, heartbroken." Sarah smiled.

"What th-" Maria was cut off by a snap from Sarah which caused the princess to fall into a trance.

"What are you waiting for... Go erase her memories already." Sarah said impatiently.

Eric's golden eyes glowed as he took a deep breath before touching Maria's head.

"You are a simple girl, born to wonderful parents who raised you to be a wonderful person. Your name is Feliz Lockheart, aged ten." Eric explained as his hand was on her head.

He did not alter other things but her status, name and where she experienced he memories. Though little is known about her memories with Hans.

"How about Hans?" Eric asked as he lifted his hand.

"Easy. I'll make sure you erase his memory too and he gets banished to the north." Sarah smirked.

"Wha- Why?!" Eric asked.

"We can't keep him here, where everyone knows him and could try to make him remember his memories." Sarah answered.

Sarah's puppet guards took Maria to the east where she was adopted by a family who lived near the boundary walls of the Orient. She was indeed named Feliz Lockheart and she lived with them as their child.

As for Hans, who was crying in the plaza, they waited for him to get back to the castle.

Cedric on the other hand was sent back to his kingdom safely due to Sarah's manipulation over Sandra. When he arrived, Lady Clara was waiting by the throne of the king with the crown on her hands.

"What happened your majesty?" Clara asked with a straight face.

"She... Was publicly executed..." Cedric said in a monotonous tone.

Clara was trying not to cry as the king climbed the stairs to his throne where he sat. He was still crying about it.

As Cedric cried on his throne, Clara suddenly dropped the crown from her hands then ran towards the garden that the princess once loved.

In the west, Hans goes into his room, drained of life. Inside his room was Sandra and Eric who were waiting for him for how many hours.

"Oh... Eric..." Hans said.

"Where were you?" Eric asked, pretending to be curious.

"Oh nowhere..." Hans lied.

Sarah closed the door of the room then she snapped to put Eric into a trance.

"So?" Sarah smiled at her brother.

Eric nodded then did the same to him but instead, he said, "You are Hans von Hohenzollern, you live in the north with your friend. Your father was killed while serving during the war and your mother died protecting you."

They left Hans on his bed in the room then they proceeded to the throne room where Sarah manipulated the king into banishing Eric into the north.

"Sire, you can't do that! He is but 12, he won't last long there." Sae refuted.

"Silence! He weeped for her. It is an act of treason." The king replied with a tone of frustration.

"But sire, it is normal for a kid like him!" Sae insisted.

"Oh my goodness, if you're against our choices, then why don't you follow that wretched girl to the guillotine?!" The king yelled.

Sae bowed then ran to her quarters for she knows that she can't do anything much for Hans anymore. He was going to be banished and it was final.

Sarah's puppet guards escorted Eric and Hans to the northern kingdom and there they lived and were loved by those around them.

"Everything is going smoothly as planned." Sarah smirked from the corner of the hallway.

"And what do you think you are doing, banishing Hans like that?! He's family you dimwit!" Sandra yelled at Sarah.

"But also a nuisance against your coronation." Sarah reasoned.

"Touché." Sandra narrowed her eyes at her sister. It annoyed her so much, but she saw Sarah's point into doing it. What she couldn't see was the reason for Sarah's help.

"Eric's there with Hans in the north anyway so it'll be okay. I have mother and father on the tip of my finger." Sarah smirked.

"You witty bastard." Sandra complimented her sister.

In the east, Maria started her life as the caretaker of her adoptive parent's flower boutique. It amazed her snd she was learning slowly.

"This is fun..." Maria mumbled.

"Feliz, come here!"

As for the north, Eric and Hans arrived with warms clothes and there were not a single flower that could bloom in that region.

"I wish I remember what flowers look like."