Cost of the Crown (UNREVISED VERSION)

Froly

The coronation party was alive and everything was in order. Maria was with Hans while Cedric was over at his throne, looking at the smiles on everyone's faces.

"Wanna meet my brother?" Maria asked Hans.

"Sure!" He smiled at the young princess.

Maria held Hans' hand then she walked through the dancing people. She was smiling innocently as Hans could feel his face getting warmer. They appear before the king who was enjoying his people's joy.

"Cedric!" Maria called to her brother as she went closer with Hans holding her.

"Maria, I have not seen you since the ceremony." Cedric smiled. "I see you made a friend."

"Yeah! He's Hans Van Rensselaer. I accidently spilled chocolate on his blonde hair." She smiled as she looked at the young boy.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, King Cedric." Hans bowed.

"Thank you for attending my coronation. I hope you enjoy the celebration." Cedric nodded.

Cedric took a harder look at Hans without looking suspicious. He gasped as he realized what he is seeing.

"Your majesty, are you okay?" Hans asked.

"I'm-" He was cut off by a call for the boy.

"Hans?" Someone called.

A man in blue looked at the boy in front of the king then went near him. "You made me so worried."

"Noir!" Hans called back.

Hans ran to Noir and they were both happy to see each other. Cedric and Maria smiled at the two then Maria said, "He asked me to help him look for a friend of his. I guess he found him."

"I guess he did." Cedric stood up from his throne to go back to his room.

"Where are you going?" His sister asked.

"I need to check on something in my room." He replied.

"I wanna come with you." Maria held his hand.

Cedric nodded then he started walking. His face furrowed as he thought of what he saw days before. He remembered a man in white wearing the crown he is wearing while he was smiling with a woman who possesses red eyes.

He looked closer at the man in his thoughts as he walked with his sister while silence filled the halls. That is where it struck him, the man had deep blonde hair and steel grey eyes, like the little boy named Hans that Maria met that evening. Light walking was following the two royals as the siblings get closer to Cedric's room. They were being followed but Cedric was too busy to notice.

"Cedric, I feel something wrong." Maria's eyes glowed red as she worried.

Cedric was in a trance as he was in the depths of his mind. He looked into the different colours of the spectrum. Every colour with every possibility and probability of each to happen. Maria was getting worried even more as she felt the footsteps getting closer.

They arrived in front of Cedric's room then they were ambushed. Maria was shaking as her brother was still inside his mind.

One of them gave out a signal then a man in violet then appeared from the shadows wielding a sword.

"Cedric... Cedric..." Maria tugged his brother's clothes.

The man was about to strike the two royals with the sword when Cedric takes two knives that he was keeping in his sleeves then used it to block the sword. The man's companions decided to attack the princess when her eyes glow more vibrant to summon her shadows.

Cedric and the man were fighting and the king took a sword from the knight armor found on the halls. He continued attacking and blocking until he fell on his back and was cut on the leg.

"Why are you doing this?!" Cedric demanded an answer from the man in green.

"Orders are orders, your majesty." The man was about to thrust the sword into Cedric's chest when the latter suddenly holds the blade while his blood dripped onto his clothes.

Maria was fighting the others with only her abilities by her side. She was getting exhausted then her brother's crown rolled to her side. She looked at his brother who was in distress, then she had it with them. She opened her palm then blew poison into their faces. She took the crossbow from one of the men's bags then she shot three arrows into the man that was attacking her brother.

The arrows caused the man infinitesimal damage, there she deduced that, that man was of higher ranking. A knight, perhaps.

Cedric kicked the man in stomach then he was push backwards. So much to the point he got stabbed by a spear held by a suit of armor on the end of the hallway. When the man was pierced into the stomach with the spear, he mentioned a name, "Hans..."

Maria froze when she heard the name then the man took out an albert in which he let go after his final breath. Cedric looked around then he saw how much of a mess everything was. He went near the corpse to lok at the albert. He saw a hinge on the side so he decided to open it up. Inside the albert was a picture of him and what it looks like to be his son.

"Hans... Is his son..." Maria whispered.

"It seems so... Let's go Maria, we need to freshen up before we can show ourselves to the masses." Cedric gave a bow to the man before leaving.

He took his crown from the floor then he proceeded into his room with his sister.

"Cedric... Shouldn't we tell this to Lady Clara?" Maria suggested. "I mean, she will get worried..."

"It's okay..." Cedric took a bandage to wrap around his bloody hands. It hurt him but it wasn't as bad as the cut on his leg in which he can manage walking like a normal person.

He put on gloves so he could hide the cuts from Lady Clara. He also bandaged his leg so no blood would be dripping off.

He changed clothes then put the bloody ones in a separate hamper. Maria waited on his bed as she was still in shock of what she saw.