A/N:

Alright! I'm excited! This is the first writing contest I've really ever been in! Hopefully I don't get eliminated the first round, or else that's going to be so ironic and sad XD

Writing Prompt: One night in your home, you get attacked by the best assassin in the kingdom and accidentally unmask them. To your surprise it's the nation's beloved princess. Upon being caught she tells you that you're the only person to ever catch her in the act, and that she's willing to let you live on one condition.

Also, just one more thing! This story will be set in a Dutch kingdom, just to make my stories more diverse. ;)

(Also, I apologize if some of the Dutch here is inaccurate, I'm using Google Translate.)

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Remko Muller, a 16 year old boy with dark hair and fair skin, was boiling some of his famous potato soup. It was famous because the town nearby loved it. Living alone in a farm, he got quite lonely at times, and wondered why he never had any parents to take care of him. Then he'd quickly realize that he didn't really need parents to take care of him, and would put the thought out of his mind.

The moonlight from the night sky was shining brightly upon Remko's farmland with an ethereal grace that none could ever describe. He walked outside with a bowl of his supper, enjoying the quiet and peaceful night that he always had the gift of enjoying after each day.

Then he heard rustling from some bushes nearby. This had never happened before, and it startled Remko.

"Who is there?" He asked, speaking in English, thinking that maybe the person there didn't know Dutch.

And then, before he knew it, a figure rose quickly from the bushes and charged towards him, teh moonlight gleaming off the knife in their hand.

Remko screamed and splashed the soup at the killer in a panic, and sprinting away as fast as he could. The killer yelped as he ran, stepping on his carrots on the way. He didn't care if he trampled on his crops, there was an actual killer here. Sent to kill him. But why?

But if he was going to survive, shouldn't he fight back, and not give the killer a chance to recover from the boiling soup?

Ik ben zo dom, Remko thought, and then turned back and tackled the killer in the stomach. The mask that the killer was wearing was sent flying off their face, revealing their identity.

"De prinses?!" Demko cried, shocked. This was the princess - the princess. Why was she an assassin? And why did she want to attack him, some random 16 year old farm boy who was certainly not important?

Her brown hair and tan skin had been very different to the pale skin and dark hair of the king and queen, but no one had let that bother them much. They assumed it was a normal thing and had left it at that.

Her cold blue eyes bore holes into him with her fierce glare. She got up, grabbed her knife, and held it to his throat.

"You're the only one to have caught me like this," She seethed, bringing the knife's edge closer to his neck.

"Dat is het. Ik ga hier dood. Ik ben zo dom..." Remko muttered under his breath, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for the end.

"What did you say?! Ugh, I hate not knowing the language of my own kingdom..."

Remko suddenly remembered - Princess Rozemarijn van Langen did not know how to speak Dutch, despite it being the language of her country.

"Well?! Are you going to translate, or what?! Your life is on the line here." Rozemarijn snarled, bringing the knife closer.

"Okay, okay! I will say!" Remko said quickly. "I only said I was scared!"

Satisfied with her answer, Rozemarijn moved the knife a little bit away from his neck, but it was still under his chin.

"Since you're the only one who was stupid enough to come running back, you've uncovered my identity as the assassin everyone's talking about nowadays - The Shadow Thief." She snapped. "So I'm willing to let you live, and answer one question of yours. But!"

Remko squirmed.

"You must agree to my one condition, or I slice your head off here and now, without a second thought. Understand?"

He nodded, scared out of his wits. He always remembered the princess as a kind and caring girl who would do anything for her people. If she really was The Shadow Thief, then why had she decided to kill thousands of others? And why him, too?

"Now, what is the one question you will ask?" Rozemarijn asked.

He knew what to ask immediately - the question he'd been thinking about just now.

"Why did you kill so many? Why me, too?" He asked. He knew his English wasn't perfect, but he was sure that his point was known.

"Well, I noticed a lot of people didn't like the royal family. We were having it hard, trying to solve all of the problems around the country, while having a small budget. We didn't need the citizens' criticism too." Rozemarijn said. "So I killed them in the night, as an assassin. If they were going to be petty and inconsiderate like that, then they didn't deserve to live."

She paused when it came to answer the second part of his question, almost as if she didn't want to, but she decided to answer anyway.

"When I was about to kill the Old Lady of Archieven House for supposedly having secret information about the royal family, she told me about it, hoping that it would stop my rampage and killing. But it only led me to kill you."

The knife touched his throat, her grip tightening on it.

"Because as babies, we were accidentally swapped. I'm not really the royal family's child. You are." Rozemarijn explained. "But I'd been the one doing everything for the royal family, sacrificing my reputation and morals to do what was needed, while all you were doing was growing crops in your farm, with your oh so peaceful life!"

Her anger was so strong that Remko practically felt heat radiating from her like an inferno of flame, and beads of sweat began to drop from his face.

But just like that, the heat was gone, and Remko had a feeling that Rozemarijn was smirking.

"So the decision was made to kill you. But now, I feel as though I should at least have some faith in you. Some faith that you'd actually do something for the kingdom. And now we come back to my one condition."

Remko gulped, his fear rising.

"My one condition, that you make sure that you never reveal to anyone in the royal family that you are the true heir to the throne. If they find out that I'm not the child they had, then they will have my head. And then I won't be able to continue my crucial work." She explained. "If you don't listen, I might as well just kill you now. So what'll it be?"

Remko knew that he couldn't just let her kill him by disagreeing, or agree and let her continue to kill others as The Shadow Thief. So, he'd have to lie for now, and then find some way to tell the royal family, to make them believe him, and throw out Rozemarijn for good.

"I will not go near them." He said, hoping that she'd listen. For a moment, there was silence, and just when Remko began to think that she hadn't believed him-

"Good choice." She said, and lowered her weapon. Remko sighed in relief, but she held up her knife again.

"If I find out you're lying, then instead of my head, I will order your  head to be the one rolling in a basket." She said. Then, she lowered her weapon, and quietly slipped away.

For a few moments, Remko just stood there, shaking. After he managed to calm down, he knew what he had to do.

"I will get my throne back." He said to himself softly, staring hard at the sky. "Reken er op."

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A/N:

I had lots of fun making this! What do you guys think? I hope you all enjoyed this, because I certainly did! It was exciting, intense, and certainly different from the magic stories I always write!

This contest is really letting me break out of my genre comfort zone, and that's something I definitely need to do if I'm ever going to get better in writing.

Well, stay safe and well, and have a great day/night! <3 <3