The ruthless assassin and his gentle prince

Prologue

The prince just had his birthday. He was finally eighteen. He was on his way to visit a school of disabled children. He often went there to narrate stories to the children. The interaction with the children relaxed him. And this was exactly what he needed right now. He had a performance tonight and he was a bit stressed because of it. Something strange as he never felt stress before any performance before. It could be because he was finally eighteen.

He reached the hall where all the children were waiting for him. He smiled and felt really relaxed as he felt that warm welcome from the little angels. He sat in the middle of them and talked to them: "How are you all today?" As soon as he said that, all the children started to talk at once. He chuckled. He let them talked and did his best to reply them all. Then came time for their storytelling.
When the prince started to narrate the story, all the children fell silent and listened to him.
"Once upon a time, there was a palace on a very beautiful planet. It was the biggest and richest palace ever built in the whole galaxy. The king and the queen were very proud of their kingdom. Their people too were in turn very happy with their sovereignty. And as time passed, the queen gave birth to a boy. On that day, the whole planet was in a festive mood. The kingdom finally had its prince. The prince was just like me. Loved by everyone and spoiled by everyone.

However, the happiness of these people could not be seen by other species of the galaxy and one day, the day of the prince's seventh birthday, the prince himself disappeared."

Little Anastasia was looking at the prince with tears in her eyes. When the prince beckoned her, she went to sit on his lap and said sadly: "Did that prince die?"

The prince shook his head and continued with his story, Anastasia on his lap: "The kingdom was in an uproar. They frantically searched for the little boy but he was not to be seen anywhere on the planet.
The queen soon became inconsolable and asked her husband to look for him in the galaxy itself. She did not care how but she wanted her baby back. The king searched and searched for so many months but they finally lost hope. The whole kingdom lost hope in finding the prince.

But the queen still awaits her son. She is persuaded that her son shall return to her one day. And she waits.. she waits.."

Anastasia hugged the prince and told him: "It's a sad story."
The prince smiled and stroked her hair gently. "It is not. The moral of this story is we should not lose hope."
Anastasia looked at him with eyes much older that her age and said: " Did that prince return?"
When he said: "Not yet." Anastasia shook her head and said: "Then it is foolish that the queen keeps on hoping."

The prince opened his mouth to reply when one of the bodyguards came forward and said to him: "Sir, you are being summoned by his majesty."
He nodded and kissed Anastasia's forehead: "Hope is never a bad thing."
He then said his byes to the children who all shouted "Happy birthday" to him. He smiled, tears in his eyes and thanked them profusely.
Then he went into the vehicle that would transport him back to the palace.
His friend as well as his bodyguard, Stefan looked at him and asked: "That was a sad story. Why such a sad story on your birthday?"
The prince looked ahead and whispered: "That was a story that my mother loved to tell me. I remember how for my seventh birthday, for the first time she narrated this story to me. And my reaction was just like Anastasia. But then she shook her head and said: "Hope is a powerful thing. As you get older, you will get it." I still don't totally get it. But I miss her and this story is so close to my heart."
He looked outside and said: "Since it's my birthday, I miss her even more. Maybe that's why I chose this story for the children."
Stefan remained silent. His friend had suffered a lot. He lost his mother when he was about eleven years old. The kidnappers were over the moon when they finally succeeded in capturing the queen and her son. And the cruel kidnappers raped his mother right in front of his eyes when his mother tried to beg for his life.
The prince was so traumatised that when he finally escaped and came back home, he could not speak for a whole year. He remained secluded in his room. He did not interact with people at all. The king was so worried about him.
But he soon found something to hold to. His passion for dancing. Everyone was surprised when the prince expressed his wish to learn dancing. To learn to dance ballet. Contemporary ballet. However, his efforts started to pay off when he reached sixteen years.
Stefan said to his prince: "You are ready for your performance tonight?"
And the latter nodded. He did not dare to tell Stefan that for the first time ever, he was trembling so much because of the upcoming performance. His stress was very apparent. He was feeling weird as if anticipating something very important for tonight.

The time for his birthday party came. He was already wearing his sparkly costume and was waiting behind the curtains. He heard Stefan announce the start of the performance and Varian took his stance behind the curtains. He was trembling. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Now was not the time to panick. As the curtains were lifted up and out, away from the center, Varian started to move elegantly on stage. There was a complete silence from the audience which was helping the prince to concentrate even more on his dance. At some point, he started to feel a stare on him. Everyone was watching his dance but why was this particular stare making him tingle all over? He could not either search the audience with his gaze. As he continued to do his dance moves, the hardest ones, he felt that stare become even hotter. That hot stare was now making him blush. Who was that?
As he finished his dance, he was breathless because of his moves and because of that hot stare. As he now searched the audience for that person, he no longer felt it. It was like the person was gone. He sighed.
He went to remove his costume and put on his royal clothes on. He was really perplexed and really wanted to know who was that person. He never felt that way.
He walked down the stairs and smiled at the people. Stefan came to his side and he immediately asked him: "Who was that person that was staring at me like this?"
Stefan looked at him like he was crazy: "The whole audience?"
Varian rolled his eyes: "No you ass, oh forget it."
He then walked towards the bar. He needed a drink. He was still in shock. He nearly reached the bar when he felt that hot stare again. He immediately looked around him to see who that was. No avail. He could not find anyone who was staring at him like that. Frustrated, he walked ahead and then tripped. He was going to fall when suddenly a hand came around his waist and held him up. Varian's skin tingled again just like when he felt that hot stare. He instantly tried to look at the face who stopped him from falling. It was him who was staring like that all the time.
But then, the latter let him go and walked away. Varian said in a soft voice: "Wait up, who are you?"
The person turned his face sideways and replied coldly: "Your worst nightmare."
Varian shivered. He still could not see his face though. He seriously wanted to see his worst nightmare's face. But the latter walked away so rapidly that when with a blink of eyes, he was gone. Poof, gone!

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Tadaa, the story is finally here!!!! After so much struggle for the cover and the plot....here is the prologue :)

Can we play a game?

Who is the prince?

Who is the assassin?

Haha :P