CRIMSON HUNTER ♔ PRUSSIA[✔]

Prologue

Date: December 15, 1975

Time: 11:40 AM

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia

The castle's yard was crowded. There were guards everywhere, but that didn't faze Gilbert Beilschmidt. He stood with practically the entire population of St. Petersburg, waiting in the courtyard.

The German man ran his pale hand through his brown hair, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Although he put on a lot of perfume so that nobody else would notice the smell, the odor of hair dye was still fresh in his nose.

Gilbert had tried to wear brown colored contact lenses to conceal his odd eye color, but they caused an allergic reaction in his eye. He mentally cursed himself.

Of all people I had to be allergic to contact lenses? I'm probably the only guy who has red eyes in this world.

Gilbert looked up at the balcony. Guards stood, surveying the crowd, but they didn't see anything unusual. Gilbert smirked and checked his watch. In maybe 30 seconds, Natalya Arlovskaya would walk out on the balcony to face her lovely citizens, make a speech about her leadership, and then be crowned Queen of St. Petersburg.

She would then talk about what her plans were for the future- one of those plans was the Ukranian Trade Act.

Gilbert could care less about the act as it didn't affect him directly, and anything that didn't involve him wasn't important.

Apparently, the law set in place hurt Ukraine's trade with Russia, so the leader of Ukraine, Lady Katyusha, requested an assassin from the German Mafia to kill Princess Natalya.

Since this wasn't just a normal assassination, Gilbert Beilschmidt was requested. He was the best one in Goldenes Blut, and he loved to brag about it.

Gilbert never missed his target. Each one was shot straight through the heart, exactly on the decided murder time. He never got caught. If anyone hired Gilbert, they would have to pay lots of money but received a guaranteed kill in one bullet. His skill with a gun was not anything to be underestimated.

They called him the Crimson Hunter, and everyone knew him from the symbol he left every time he killed.

A red eye drawn in the victim's blood.

However, since Princess Natalya's title held an international value, she was heavily guarded at all times. That meant that somehow Gilbert needed to have somebody on the inside to get information about where and when she would be at all times. That's where Alfred came into play.

Although Gilbert preferred to work alone and despised Alfred Jones, somehow-and Gilbert really didn't understand how- Natalya fell head over heels for Alfred.

Of course, Princess Natalya was already engaged, so the American and Russian kept their affair secretive. However, Gilbert could read people easily, and he suspected that for the American, their relationship reached farther than just a mission. Gilbert tried to talk to Alfred, reminding of rule 1 of being an assassin, but Alfred got angry and brushed him off, promising that he didn't love Natalya like that.

But of course, Gilbert still doubted him, and that's why he had to be on hyper alert today.

This was Gilbert's first mission not working alone, and he was known amongst the mafia members for bringing only one bullet to the scene of assassination. Not even a spare! It showed his cockiness and confidence, but today, Gilbert brought two just incase without telling Alfred.

If he missed this shot because of Alfred... The American was as good as dead. The German Mafia always said "blood is thicker than water," but Gilbert had always been independent. He wouldn't have that stupid American ruining his reputation.

Alfred was in the palace right now, probably talking to Natalya before she went out in front of the crowd. Gilbert tried to calm his anger- if it weren't for Alfred, they wouldn't have all this information they needed to assassinate the princess.

There!

He saw the purple dress of Natalya flutter out the door. She took her steps outside. The time was 11:40. Gilbert and Alfred had decided as a team that the exact kill time would be 11:46 sharp.

And Gilbert never killed a second later than the decided death time.

He cocked his gun up to the balcony, making sure to stay hidden from the guards. He put his finger on the trigger and looked at his watch.

5 more seconds till 11:46.

4.

3.

2.

Gilbert pulled the trigger. The bullet zoomed up to the balcony, and people screamed at the sound of the gunshot.

1.

"Shit!"

Through the smoke, Gilbert could see Natalya was still standing. Alfred had jumped in front of her and taken the bullet. Bastard.

Expecting that Alfred would pull some shit like this, Gilbert had his second bullet in the gun, ready. He aimed straight for Natalya's heart and shot.

She went down, as expected. Natalya's blood splattered everywhere onto the crowd, and Gilbert smirked and leaned down, quickly pulling out a paper.

He dipped his gloved finger in some of Natalya's blood that was splattered all over the concrete as the crowd went to chaos. Nobody noticed him.

Gilbert smeared the blood onto the paper, drawing his symbol- the red eye. After lifting the paper to the sky, the soft and gentle breeze carried it through the crowd.

Gilbert put his gun down so it was hidden and gripped it angrily, his knuckles going paler-if that was even possible.He snuck away from the scene without getting seen and left Alfred alone on the balcony in his anger. The original plan was to sneak Alfred out, but the American was probably dead by now.

Once far away, Gilbert checked his watch. The time of Natalya's death was 11:47, one minute later than it was supposed to be. Gilbert felt fury flowing through his veins.

This is the first time I've had to use two bullets. That stupid American broke my record. I knew that it was better to work on my own. I never get attached to my targets. I never break rule 1.