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"Good evening your highness." Greeted the guard who certainly hasn't moved in a while up until the heir of Cahserith arrived in front of the throne room of the castle. The prince smiled at him, kindly, and then the guard opened the gigantic door engraved with different symbols important to the royal family of Cahserith.

"Thank you." Said the prince and at last, he stepped inside the grand hall. He walked with nobility and such grace that mesmerized the visitors from the neighboring kingdom.  The throne room was filled with nothing but pure joy and happiness as the people celebrated the coronation of the heir of the kingdom, the prince himself, Prince Jasper Guerrier.

"Congratulations your highness." Greetings came bombarding from left and right from the people whom he walked past by. "Thank you." He replied to the people who greeted him when he was walking.

Once he reached the stage where the king and queen are seated to their throne, his smile became even more bigger as he looked at the people that he will soon rule the way his father, the king, treated them. With kindness, gentleness and love.

"And with that, let us begin the coronation ceremony!" Declared the king while soldiers aligned in front of the stage. The king and queen seated in their throne, and the archbishop of Cahserith standing in front of prince Jasper.

The archbishop sited a prayer, encouraging everybody to join him as he thank the gods and goddesses for the momentous event that was happening in that day. It was a native language of their land, but their joyous feeling and humility was very loud while siting the prayer of the land.

He then lifted the crown from Henry's head and walked in front of Jasper, holding the diamond encrusted crown of Cahserith as Jasper lifts the scepter and the orb of Cahserith which is said to be very holy.

The archbishop slowly opened his wrinkled lips. "Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same?" The archbishop asked the prince.

"I solemnly promise to do so." Prince Jasper answered.

"Will your power cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all your judgement?" The archbishop asked him once again.

"I will." The prince answered with a smile.

"Will you follow to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of the heavenly beings, the true profession of the gospel and the protestant reformed religion established by law, and will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them?"

"All this I promise to do."

After this, prince Jasper laid his hand upon the holy Gospels and said. "The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep: So help me thy Gods & Goddesses of this land. Amen." As Jasper holds the scepter and the orb and finished the oath, he turned around and faced the people of his kingdom.

"I, Archbishop Gerald Monamie of Cahserith, hereby declare Prince Jasper Guerrier of Cahserith your new king!" The Archbishop shouted and the whole crowd did the same and cheered for their new king.

Jasper was overwhelmed, he looked behind and saw his father and mother who were very happy for him. They stood up and congratulated the prince. Even his tiny little brother Liam, who was standing beside him throughout the coronation was very nervous for his older brother.

"Anything you would like to say, Jasper?" Asked his mother to her beloved son while hugging him the way she used to hug him when he was still a young boy. He nodded and looked at the crowd with courage, as he was always so afraid talking in front of a huge crowd of people.

"I-i..." He said, then he paused and cleared his throat. "I would like to thank first, all the people from our kingdom who came here today. I grew up surrounded by kind and happy people, and I must say, it will be hard being a king to all of you because I don't know how to exceed your expectations, or my father, the king's service to this kingdom as he did an excellent role being the king and I don't know how to top that. There's nobody in this world I'd rather celebrate my coronation with, than our very own people from our beloved kingdom." He stated and the people of Cahserith clapped and cheered inside the throne room, filling it with the sound of proudness and happiness.

"To the people from our neighboring countries who traveled all the way to our kingdom just to be a part of my coronation, I want to say thank you, will all my heart, and at the same time, apologize for making you travel all the way here. I hope everyone is enjoying their time here." He added and the people who came from their neighboring country cheered as he stood in front of them with a big smile.

Everybody had a smile in their faces, the type of smile of a child who just received a large amount of candy from his parents, the type of smile that is so big, it was contagious. They were all celebrating, clapping and cheering for the new king that was standing in the stage. His parents behind him, his brother beside him, and the loyal people of his in front of him.

Little did they know, the happiness of that moment was about to end. Much like the fairy godmother's magic ending in midnight, it all faded away. A swift arrow with a black rose in it quickly flew straight to the new king's chest. It all happened so fast that the people did not react for a whole minute. They only snapped back to reality as soon as Jasper fell on the floor, bleeding like a pig that was killed for a feast.

Queen Leila screamed with horror, king Henry immediately ordered his soldiers to look for the murderer while comforting the dying man in his arms. But prince Liam, the child who just witnessed the murder of his brother, right in front of him was in a very traumatic state. He did not flinch, nor made any noise. He just stood there, staring at the body of his brother, his warmth fading away and was slowly being replaced with coldness.

He did not know what to do. All he knew was his brother was dying. The arrow that impaled his chest was slowly disappearing like a snow of winter in the birth of spring. The only thing that was left was the black rose that was connected to it. Oh the smell of it. It was sweet, but what it did wasn't what it smelled, it was the opposite.

And with that, the young prince Liam screamed as loud as he can when he realized that his brother is now dead.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Liam screamed after waking up from a deep sleep. His body trembling, his mind boggled, his thoughts fading and was being replaced by his worst nightmare. The traumatic experience slowly came back, taking its time like a poison of a snake corrupting a person that was bit.

The queen immediately entered his room and comforted the prince. He was trembling uncontrollably. It was like a child fearing for his life because he just heard a crack of thunder. Prince Liam went back to the time when his brother just got murdered in front of his eyes, and that is all he can think right now.

"There, there." The queen whispered softly, like a mother should do to their scared child.

~🔥~

It almost took an hour before the prince stopped trembling and shaking. He was back to his senses. His thoughts and mind freed from the traumatic experience. The queen was still comforting him, although he escaped from her grasp before walking in front of the gigantic portrait hanging in front of his bed.

"He was so happy back then mother." Said the 16 year old boy to his mother as he stare at the painting of Prince Jasper Cahserith three years ago.

"I know son. I still remember his face during the coronation, oh how big his beautiful smile was, and the way he gathered his courage because he gets stage fright too easily." Said the beautiful lady before hugging the young man tightly.

"I miss him mother, my big brother Jasper." Whispered the young man before hugging his mother tightly as well.

"I miss him too son. But there is nothing we can do but to accept the fact that he is gone now." Said the queen quietly, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. But the young prince can still feel it, the sadness lingering in her voice, no matter how soft and quiet she talks.

"Who are they mother? The one who killed my brother." Asked the young man to the queen as they both look at the painting with such sadness.

"I don't know. Although I spoke to your father, he said there's more of them. The royal guards saw people in black cloaks running away as soon as they killed him. Their objective is unknown, but I'm sure it's not a good one." She answered to her son's question with a hint of sadness, but she immediately replaced that sadness with happiness as she continued talking to him.

"Anyway, dinner is almost ready Liam, someone will be joining us." Said his mother before going out of his room.

At the back of Liam's mind, he was hoping that the person who will be joining them is his brother, Prince Jasper, but he realized that it was impossible. So he snapped back to reality, the reality that was filled with darkness for him which began the moment the arrow hit his brother's chest during his coronation.

Both his fist clenched at the thought of the person shooting the arrow that flew straight to his brother's chest where it stayed there like the moon at night before crumbling and fading when the morning comes. There was anger in him, but completely changed to sadness because he thought that he could've done something before his brother died. Now he's living in darkness, from the fear of the people that killed his brother, and the darkness that filled his life when the light disappeared on that fateful day.

He looked at his brother's portrait once more, he was so happy and smiling that big smile that he always wore. He always thought that he was his light in the dark, the one that shines his way for him to become an even better version of himself, but now he's gone, and so is the light that is guiding his way.

Liam then left his room and went to the solar of the castle, still hoping that Jasper was the person his mother is saying that would join them in dinner.

  ~🔥~