THIRD PERSON POV
In a mansion not far from the main city of Gralia, a man in his 30's smiled as he watches a man being dragged in front of him.
"Kneel in front of your emperor." Said the person who dragged the poor man. The man refuses to do so because he knows there is only one emperor who he kneels for and it's Emperor Alvia. Not this self-proclaimed lunatic.
"Such a devoted follower. You do know nothing good ever happens to those who disrespect me, right?" Said the smiling man. The poor man looks up with rage in his eyes.
"Like we expected. The leader of the Resistance is none other that you, Sir Nicholas. What have you done to your own people, to your own duchy! How is it possible for you to do such cruel things behind the emperor's back?!" The poor man was slapped across the face by the person who dragged him in.
"Hiro, stop that. If you continue to do that, he wouldn't talk to me." Hiro stops and forces the poor man to face Sir Nicholas.
"Harry ... the patriotic, devoted and smart Harry. Do you really think that you manage to infiltrate my base? Sir Derrick need to train his espionage team to be more ... discreet when they're on a mission. I can smell rats like you from a mile away!" Sir Nicholas grabbed Harry's chin with his hand and look into his eyes.
"Fuck you and your emperor. Do you think that stupid emperor has what it takes to take over an empire?! He doesn't even have the smart for it! That throne is mine and mine alone!" Harry chuckled.
"You're not even purely royal blooded, to begin with. Do you think the former emperor doesn't know that your real father was the gardener? A commoner! Your mother may be the former emperor's cousin. But your family is not in line for the throne." Sir Nicholas pushes the poor man hard on the floor before kicking his side.
Harry tried to cover himself by hugging his knees but it's futile. It was when he coughs out some blood that sir Nicholas decided to stop. He took some breather before went back to his love seat and wipe the sweats on his face with a towel.
"Do you want to hear a funny story?" He asked while Hiro force Harry to get up on his knee.
"With the emperor's decision to let his future brides enter the forest, I also let some of my best hitman pretending to be the palace guard. It should be entertaining to see the emperor try to keep a positive attitude when one or two of his candidates injure or die while participating in such ridiculous way to find a wife. Who knows, it might even make him famous." Harry looks up with his eyes widen.
"Pretty sure those ladies will not make it when they came in contact with my hitman." Sir Nicholas laughed as he imagines the emperor's reaction.
"That's where you're wrong," Harry said weakly.
"And why would you say that?" Sir Nicholas was intrigued to know the reason why this battered man says such a thing.
"The ladies he chose is not someone you could simply look with your one eye closed. They came from a respectable family who has been friends with the imperial family for so long. Lady Luna came from a respectable family of soldiers. It's bound for her to have the same training as her brothers and sisters do." Harry explained with a smirk.
"Lady Natania may look like your typical girly girl. But when there's a time where she needs to protect herself, there is no doubt she'll use all the skill she learned from her father who was known to be the former emperor's shadow guard. Yes ... he's the same person who protects the former emperor from the assassination attempt by the neighbouring empire." Sir Nicholas chuckled but deep down Harry knows he's beginning to question his action.
"There is nothing more I can say about lady Veronica. I'm sure you all know how she was when the border incident occurs. She was one of the nobles who protect Gralia from being invaded. Her skills with any type of weapon was what made her gruesome on the battlefield." Harry smiled at Sir Nicholas even though he's in pain.
"So you see ... even if you sent the most talented hitman you have ... there is no way he or she could defeat them. Lady Kathryn may come from a family of commoners with nothing to brag about but ... with how hard her life was, nothing fazes her anymore." Sir Nicholas stood up from his seat and proceed to stand in front of Harry.
He took his gun out from his back and aim it against Harry's head.
"Sir I don't think that is wise of you to do. Do not stain your hand for such trivial things." Sir Nicholas glared at Hiro.
"Tell the hitman to retreat. I was not informed that the remaining candidates have such a background. You ... are one of the reasons to blame for not doing your job properly." Hiro bows his head. He knows when his superior speaks like that, he is quite disappointed.
"I will do whatever it takes to inform the hitman, my Lord." Hiro said as he bows.
"You may go. Leave him here." Hiro nod before excusing himself.
"You really think that he will be able to contact your hitman in time? You did just jeopardising your own mission by exposing your useless hitman. You should know that it's futile to even attack the Imperial family blindly." Harry once again was hit but this time he received a couple of hard blow on his head.
Sir Nicholas used whatever weapon that was on his reach and repeatedly hit the man for making him realise his own mistake.
"Emperor Alvia will investigate thoroughly who sent that hitman to his private property and will make sure that person suffer the consequences. You ... will never see the throne and it will never be in your reach if this is how you try to take them." Sir Nicholas was so furious that he finally used his own fist to shut Harry up.
But Harry wouldn't give up. He keeps taunting the man who hit him until he is satisfied.
"You're no emperor in my eyes! YOU'RE NOTHING!" Sir Nicholas absentmindedly took his gun out yet again and shoot the man in his head. When he heard the gunshot, that was when he realised he has killed the man.
"Oh ... what a pity of you to die for your so call emperor." Was all Sir Nicholas says before leaving the room so that his people clean up his mess?
***
"Whoa! Watch out." Luna literally pulled Kathryn by the collar before she falls into her death. That was a long way down and Kathryn was glad Luna manages to catches her before she did fall.
"Thank you." Luna smiled before looking at the map again. She was sure that they went in the right direction but ... where's the survivor?
"Something is not right. That person supposes to be here." Luna looked around the vicinity and noticed something that shouldn't be here. Luna crouches down and observes the surrounding area.
"Something happened here. There's a sign of struggling and ... faint scene of blood." Luna stood up and grabbed Kathryn by the hand before pulling her to a nearby bush. They both hide when they saw a couple of men dressed as the palace guard strolling down the path they took earlier.
"Where are they? According to the map, they should be here. Maybe we shouldn't kill that bitch before they came." Kathryn was about to gasp but Luna manages to put her hand on her mouth to prevent so.
They waited until they both far enough from that place before revealing themselves.
"We need to inform Natania and Veronica. I'm not sure if they come across the same people but just to be sure." Kathryn nod while Luna took something from her bag.
"It seems like the chamberlain has prepared us with every necessity needed for this. God bless her soul." Luna tries to reach for Natania's walkie talkie.
"Sup bitch?" Luna and Kathryn rolled their eyes when they heard Natania's voice.
"I guess that you've met two mysterious men dressed like the palace guard trying to find us?" Natania continued.
"Yes. Did you came across them as well?" Luna asked.
"Of course we did. They killed the survivor that we're supposed to save. What should we do?" Natania asked Luna since Luna is older by age.
"Let's call off this search. There is no way we can continue with two assassins trying to kill us. Let Alvia handle them." Natania and Veronica look at each other and nod.
"Agreed. Let's call off this test." Natania replied. Luna handed the walkie back to Kathryn as she grabbed a flare stick that will help notify the palace people. Suddenly Luna thought of something.
"They will know where we are if we do so. Ceasefire. Tell them to not light the stick!" It was too late because before Kathryn could do so, they both saw sparks of light in the air.
"Oh no. Let's go!" Luna quickly pack up and ran towards the location where the light seems to come from. Luna will never be able to forgive herself if something bad happens to Natania and Veronica.
"Luna get down!" Kathryn screamed before tackling Luna down. Even though she managed to save the noblewoman, she ended getting hurt in the end. She winced every time she tries to move her shoulder.
"Kathryn! Oh no. Why did you do that?!" Kathryn ignored the pain she felt when she quickly put herself between Luna and their attacker. She knows if something happens to the noble, nothing good ever happens for the emperor.
"Well ... would you look at that. You were right, they did come to aid the other. If we waited, they will come to us instead." Luna grabbed a hold on Kathryn's unhurt arm.
"Who are you? Who do you work with?" Kathryn asked while glaring at their attacker.
"You must be the commoner. I mean, it's not that hard to know which one of you had silver spoon feed into your mouth ever seen you were born." Kathryn places her hand on top of Luna's.
"Let's get this over with and kill them already. We don't have much time left." Said the other attacker.
"How dare you hurt one of my future brides." The attacker froze in their place when they heard a voice coming from behind. When they turned around, emperor Alvia was there with both Natania and Veronica together with his personal guard.
Both the attackers both raised their hand when the guards aim their rifles at them. They know that even if they try to escape, there are more people waited for them outside of the forest.
"Take them to custody." The emperor kneels down and examines Kathryn's gunshot wound.
Alvia apologised when he accidentally pressed on the wound. He was so glad that the wound was not fatal. But, if they decided to take their sweet time, it will turn fatal since Kathryn seems to be profusely bleeding. He proceeds to tear a part of his cloth and use it to stop the blood.
"My emperor ... your expensive suit ... it's ruined now." Kathryn said weakly.
"I can buy as many expensive suits I want." Natania helped Luna up to her feet.
"She's going to be okay right?" Luna asked as Alvia pick Kathryn up in bridal style.
"She will be okay. Come on ladies, let's go back to the palace. I'm sorry ... everything happened today is because of my stupidity." The ladies shake their head.
"Let's focus on bringing Kathryn to the infirmary. We can talk about this when we're not in danger and the eyes of the public." Luna said. Alvia nod and carried Kathryn towards the car.
"Did you ever saw Alvia like that before? He seems genuinely worried when we told him that we heard a gunshot." Natania shakes her head no.
"No ... I never saw him like that before. Veronica ... our faith has been set. He's going to choose Kathryn over us whether we like it or not. What are we doing here even? Why did we decided to risk our lives for something we know we will never have a chance with?" Veronica smiled.
"Because we would like to have faith in that slight chance he sees us as more than childhood friends?" They both laughed as they went to another car that was provided for them. Luna was already inside when they entered.
"Luna it's not your fault," Veronica said when they noticed Luna still shaken up by what had happened.
"I know. I'm thinking now. Because I think I saw something when one of them was aiming his gun to us. I think... I saw it somewhere." Natania and Veronica look at each other.
They were as curious as Luna is.