Kingdom of thieves

Kingdom of thieves - part 3

Princess Alyssa of the kingdom of Saynts, stormed from the meeting room, her cheeks hot with fury and embarrassment. 

She had never known a bunch of old men to be so irritating.

She marched down the corridor to her chambers nodding to the people who passed her, who all stopped to bow and stare.  

The princess was known for her beauty, with her golden hair and pale skin, she was said to be the most beautiful women in the land. This she doubted having seen very beautiful women where nobody would think to look. The ghetto district was known for its crime, its grime and its prostitutes. Alyssa had been to the district, disguised heavily obviously and without her fathers consent. All her life she had been confined to the citadel and the royal district, and it had seemed only fair for her to get out once in a while to see the people that she would in the future rule over, she had begged Thea her personal handmaid to disguise her enough to pass for one of the poorer folk and take her threw the secret passages that the servants used to travel around. What she had seen there had had a marked effect on her, the living conditions were appalling, it was hard to believe that anything could survive there, the people were all dressed in rags, the buildings were cramped and filthy and there were women on every corner offering their bodies for money. 

The sight had horrified her but she had also felt an overwhelming sadness for the people who lived there, everyone she had seen had had the same look, a look of someone who had led a horrible life where evry day was a struggle to survive, and there was no alternative.  

Alyssa had been disgusted when, on returning to the citadel, she had finally seen the difference between the people in the ghetto and the aristocracy who resided within the top districts, they worn fine cloths and gold jewelery while the dwellers struggled to clothe themselves and bent bits of disgarded metal for decoration.  

Also their expressions, the nobles and princes who lived in their palaces would never have to make the decision to sell their only child to feed themselves, they did not have the hardened knowing expression all dwellers had, an expression that said they were experienced with what life was really like. 

After her expedition, the princess had finally realised how lucky she was and how ignorant and sheltered her people were, when they did ever speak of the lower districts they had nothing but criticism for it. Had they ever been there? No. of cause not. 

From the records Alyssa had clearly seen that the ghetto district had slowly been increasing in size since the beginning of the kingdom, Killian had laughed at her when he had found her seeking information on the ghetto, "leave the peasants where they are most wanted, where they cannot be seen" he had said, but Killian was the same as the aristocracy, he had never seen the ghetto, it was beneath him, and while she lost sleep over the conditions of the poor, he indulged himself with his continuous stream of women. 

Rather than doing what her brother said, she had brought the prospect of improving the ghetto in front of the monthly court, she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up, rather than being outright disapproving, the chief speaker had politely reminded her that the meeting was to decide what was best for the good of the people, not to waste money and energy on fruitless endeavored that could embarrass the royal family, this had left her in a bad mood and she mentally cursed each member of the royal court, including her brother, not that he ever attended. 

Alyssa continued walking down the corridor to her chambers, before she reached it she stopped in front of her fathers study, and glanced at the guards who stood with their backs against the wall, swords at their sides, spears in their hands. The battle district - named because it was where soldiers were trained or battle, not that there had been a war in saynts for a Long time - was situated just before the servants district which was next to the ghetto district, maybe one of them would know about it and be able to tell her more.