A hooded man wandered through the streets of the local market in the City of Portakal. A market that he had never visited before. It was an unpleasant feeling, though the atmosphere was supposed to be great. The sun was shining and a lot of people visited the market, the traders were making lots of profit.
The assassination of Emperor Joseph XI, which had occurred a few hours ago, had not yet been communicated to the public. It was just a day like any other. Most residents were incredibly happy under Emperor Joseph XI's rule and many soldiers were proud to serve under his colors.
The man, William, was the man known as Emperor Joseph XI. He was currently fleeing from the assassins sent out to capture him. He had managed to escape the palace using the help of his butler Clark and now hid in the crowd, hoping to find a way out of the city. Once he exited the City of Portakal, he would have to hide from his son Joseph, who was about to become Emperor Joseph XII.
The heat was starting to take a toll on William. He was not the youngest, after all. He hadn't drunk water today and it has been a while since he fled from the palace. His field of view seemed to grow smaller and smaller as he collapsed from the heat.
William regained consciousness and opened his eyes with a groan. A light shined directly into his face. He saw the ceiling of a lit room instead of the red cloth that usually covered his bed. He had a terrible headache and his skin felt incredibly dry.
"Where am I?"
The lantern above his head had moved, a light was no longer blinding him. An older man, one seemingly in his forties, looked down at his face.
"Sir, are you okay? Your wound has opened back up..."
He tried to sit back up but failed to do so. William looked around.
"This is our humble abode. We found you on the street in the middle of the market."
"Did you... bandage my hand?"
William noticed the younger boy next to the middle-aged man. His face held a worried expression.
"Yes. The piece of clothing you had wrapped around it seemed to be dirty so we changed it. Also, where did that wound come from?"
William realized that these people didn't know who he was. He pondered revealing himself to them but the consequences of impersonating the Emperor would be dire. He didn't know if his son had already sent out people to search for him.
"I was robbed."
William did not tell a lie. He wasn't left with the few, casual-looking clothes he had worn as he left the palace, so someone would have to have taken his belongings from him.
"Say, what is your name?"
"My name is William Press."
"Nice to make your acquaintances. I'm Hans Budala and this here is my son. Go on, introduce yourself Nils."
The young boy spoke up. "My name is Nils Budala. Nice to meet you."
William would reply with a simple nod. The young boy noticed his expression.
"Do you want a glass of water?"
William, noticing how dry his mouth was, gave a simple reply. "Yes, please."
As Nils headed off to the kitchen, Hans spoke in a more serious tone. "In all honesty, who are you?"
"I was homeless before I was robbed on the street."
This lie seemed realistic, as William gave up his fancy clothing in an attempt to flee. William sat up as Nils reentered the room, in his hand a glass of water. Hans knew that this conversation would lead nowhere.
William, now sitting, looked around the room, taking it in. He was sitting on the couch of a small and minimalistic living room, with the coat of arms of the Emperor being the only decoration on the walls. William's glare was interrupted by Hans.
"Emperor Joseph XI. His generosity toward the poor was like a glimmer of hope to us."
William was surprised. After thinking for a bit, William asked. "What happened to him?"
Both Nils and Hans were surprised. William was surprised about the fact that the message had already spread so far. How long was he unconscious?
"You do not know? The Imperial Palace announced that His Majesty the Emperor was assassinated in the Imperial Palace today. They have stated that they will do their best to find and trial his assassin."
William, as suspicious as it was, showed no reaction to this.
"What time is it?"
Hans was a bit surprised and swiftly replied. He checked his watch.
"Currently it's 6:15 PM. We picked you up about an hour ago."
William froze. He knew that he fled into the market at around 3 PM. He thought about this for a while. He decided to go through his pockets. While fleeing he had left behind most of his belongings except for his dagger, which was now missing as well.
Nils spoke up.
"Sir? You seem thoughtful."
"Oh, it's nothing."
"Mr. William, we've eaten dinner and left a bit for you to eat. You may stay with us for a while."
"That isn't necessary-"
He was cut off by Nils.
"Sir, it's okay! You're in our care."
William thought for a bit. By now, there must be a lot of skilled assassins sent out to hunt him. If he were to run away now, who knows if they'd find him. He was sure that they would give up searching the capital region after a while, suspecting that he fled into other nearby cities.
"We insist. It is too late to go out. And while you may have slept outside for a while, you are sick."
He knew that his immune system wasn't used to things such as sleeping outside, so realistically he wouldn't have a choice but stay with them.
"Thank you. I will accept your offer."
Both Hans and Nils smiled.
Later, William sat at the dining table, eating a meal consisting of mashed potatoes and some vegetables. The food was not comparable to the meals he had eaten every day in the Imperial Palace, but this was to be expected.
After dinner, William sat down with Hans. Nils had already gone to sleep.
"So, what do you work as?"
"I work as a carpenter, the pay is good enough to support us two."
Hans continued after a quick pause.
"This may be a sensitive topic, but what lead to your homelessness?"
William thought.
"I am not used to lying. As you may have figured out, I never was homeless."
Hans gave a nod.
"Where did that wound come from? Are you perhaps being chased?"
"I guess you could say that."
Hans thought, while William had a question.
"May I?"
He asked, pointing to the newspaper on the table. Hans replied with a quick nod and William took the newspaper and started reading.
William read the article, announcing the death of Emperor Joseph XI and the succession of his son, now Emperor Joseph XII. William knew what type of person his son Joseph was. While he engaged in politics, he had shown a rather extreme, conservative way of thinking. One could say "too" conservative, even for the Portakal Empire which had struck to traditions in most parts with one notable exception.
His son constantly suggested and tried to implement changes in favor of the higher classes, which contradicted with William's personal beliefs. William ruled with the intent to create a society in which there was a sense of unity between the higher and lower classes. While he didn't want to abolish the aristocracy, he would surely have weakened it.
"You are not a criminal, are you?"
William was surprised.
"Hans, can I tell you something?"
Hans gave a nod.
"You may call me out as a liar and throw me out of your house, but there is something I have to tell you. It's about the recent death of Emperor Joseph XI."
"Go on."
"The cause of death of Emperor Joseph XI was not illness, the man known as Emperor Joseph XI was assassinated."
Hans looked angry.
"How can you say something like that? Who even are you?"
William decided to take a more arrogant approach.
"Trust me, I'd know. Now, the second thing I'd like to say. Emperor Joseph XI never died."
Hans got up from his seat and raised his voice. This seemed to be a sensitive topic for him.
"Are you suggesting that... Why would anyone want to expel the Emperor from his position when he was such a popular man?!"
"But was he really that popular? What makes you believe that? Yes, he might have introduced policies for the benefit of the majority of people, but the upper-class traditionalists were never satisfied with his policies. He gave too much to the poor in their view, didn't he?"
William felt weird, talking about himself in third person. He wondered how to continue the conversation, but Hans was faster.
"Who are you?"
William didn't like telling lies. Though he was capable of deducing what could come next, he decided to reveal himself.
"My name is Joseph XI of the Imperial House of Portakal-"
Before William could finish his sentence, Hans threw a punch at him. William took the hit to his thorax, shortly after getting up from his seat. He had no intention to fight and had calculated Hans' character to be a calm one. Hans shouted.
"How dare you say something like that?"
William took a deep breath. Hans hit him hard.
"Prove it. Prove that you are the Emperor."
William raised his hands.
"I have no personal belongings, but if you have a photo, you can try and compare the faces."
It wasn't that William was unrecognizable. No, in fact, it was quite the opposite. Though William gave his best to stay unrecognized when fleeing. He wore a hood, changed his hair in such a way which didn't look like him and changed his facial expressions and appearance, partially unvoluntarily. He hadn't completely processed his son's betrayal yet.
"Stay here."
Hans said while going off to look into nearby drawers. William sat down and took a deep breath. He was a 61 year old man after all.
A minute later, Hans returned with a cut-out photograph from the newspapers. He walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Look at me."
Hans said, holding up the picture and comparing the two of them. While William's hair was messy, there still was no doubt that it was him on the picture.
"Please explain."
And William started explaining to him what had happened.