Most of the servants working at night were exhausted, as the break of dawn drew close. The fresh morning breeze blew softly on the crown prince's face, as he entered the castle. He reeked of blood and rusty metal. His boot softly clicked on the clean marbled floor, with his palms tucked in his trouser pockets. His face was expressionless.
The servants who were previously lobbying around, immediately got back to their tasks, with their hearts beating loudly against their chests. As soon as the crown prince was out of sight, they all breath a sigh of relief.
Two maids, blonde and brunette, eyes lingered on where he disappeared through.
"Why does he have such intimidating presence? It's worse than the other members of the royal family." The first whispered to the brunette with a deep frown. Maintaining the same tone as her partner, the brunette responded.
"Probably because he's cursed," her tone was casual, as the other had to puzzled look.
"C-cursed? By whom?" One could sense the fear in her voice, as she wondered who would dare curse the crown prince.
"I don't know. But I heard, it was the same person that poisoned the first Queen, his birth mother." The other filled her partner in. The frown on the blonde deepened along with her fear. She didn't know the first Queen was poisoned, because rumours said that she died of an incurable disease. She narrowed her eyes at the other maid, wondering if she was telling the truth.
"How did you know all this?" Her voice came off skeptical, which the brunette failed to detect.
"My mother worked here, before she passed." She said, but instead of her to feel sad about her mother's death, she felt proud, as her bloodline served the royal family.
"Oh," the blonde whispered with a hint of jealousy, as she was only the one from her bloodline to serve the royals. In their kingdom, whatever work you do, as long as it serving the royals, it is seen as great honour. And to have a family member who worked there, before you is even greater honour.
"Many said after her death, the curse fell on the crown prince, which made him addicted to bloodshed. Why do you think he's always going to war? Death brings him utmost joy, to him it's like a soft rain, during the hot summer," she continued, as the other was really engrossed with the new information she's gaining.
"He always finds excuses to behead people, that is why most servant are scared of him the most, out of all the members of the royal family. We even fear him more than the King." That last sentence was whispered to the other's ear, who reacted with her palm going over her mouth and her eyes widening.
As Leonard was on his way to his room, his ears picked up sounds coming from a tall pillar not too far from him. His eyes narrowed, and he walked towards it, making sure his footsteps were soft. What was that?
Thud
He saw a body dropped dead on the floor. The person was wearing a maid's uniform. Her skin was pale and there was a fresh bite mark on her neck, with no sign of blood. He sighted a pair of clean boots beside it and he observed the owner to be none other than his half-brother, Henry.
Both brothers eyes met, with one shooting daggers and the other as cool as the waters. Leonard was not bothered by the dead body as such thing in the castle was common. He was not in the mood to exchange unnecessary words with his brother, so he turned to leave, but stopped when he heard his brother's remark.
"Sleeping with the lowly maids now, are we?" News in the castle travels quickly, as his mother had informed him the previous night about the maid the crown prince took to his room. He had a smougged look on his face.
Leonard was unbothered by this, as he saw it as his half-brother displaying foolishness, as usual.
"At least they want me," he mumbled but loud enough for the second prince to hear. The smile on Henry's face dropped instantly, and he clenched his teeth. He was about to respond, but he noticed that the crown prince was already out of sight.
The second prince was always insecure about his looks, as many claimed him to be unattractive. He had heard the woman from gathers claiming he had an unattractive face. They said the good genes his family had, was all taken by his older brother, who they claimed to be the most handsome in the kingdom.
He had made the statement about the maid because he wanted to belittle his brother, but he seemed to have forgotten that his older brother had a sharp tongue and a cruel heart. His chest heaved with his upper lip twitching.
"Arrogant fool," he mumbled as he turned and walked the opposite way the crown prince took. He didn't care about the body as he knew the servants around would take care of it, as they were all compelled to do so without making any fuss.
It so happened that a young maid came towards the area, wiping the floors. She moved closer to the pillar with each wipe and her eyes caught something. She frowned and peaked to see what it was.
A light gasp escaped her lips and she went closer for a better view. She had a look that one has when seeing a ghost. Her heart pouched against her chest, and she went down on her knees, when she noticed it was a body. The body that she found to the very farmilar. The person lying on the floor lifeless, was none other than her older sister. Tears filled her eyes, as her fingers trembled, going to touch the girl's pale face. The lifeless maid's eyes were closed.
The maid's noticed the bite mark on her sister's neck and she wondered how she got the mark. Was that what killed her? She was devastated. They had only chatted not too long ago, how was she dead? She parted her lips to scream, but no voice came out. She wanted to sob loudly, but the tears in her eyes disappeared. A voice in her head suddenly told her to drag the body to a building below the castle and toss her body into a burning fire. The girl didn't want to do it. She was scared by the sudden thought, but she found herself taking hold of her sister's feet, dragging her body to a place she never recalled ever knowing existed in the castle. She was petrified by her actions, her mind screaming at her to stop, but her body did the opposite.
This was how the royal family maintained the castle. Compelling every work to do this whenever a body was found and to never mention this to anybody. They would be aware of it, but their lips would never mention it.