The Bloody Crown ||Sanders Sides

1. The Darkest Day

*deep breath* ahhhhh. Just smell the angst.

I'm excited for this. My creative juices are flowing.

As always, thank you for checking out this book, and thank you for the support with my writing. It means a lot to me.

And if you haven't read anything I've made before, you're in for a wild ride.

Also, this goes for the whole book so I'm not gonna bother putting warnings for this on every chapter, but Virgil and Roman are both very unsympathetic and sort of evil. You've been warned.

TW: swearing, talks about death, threats

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It had been a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and the markets were bustling like usual.

Galatia has always been a kingdom of activity and joy. If people weren't happy it just didn't seem quite right. And that morning everything was as it should've been.

The air was peaceful, with an almost electric hum from the excitement of the market. The energy was that of people who could only be described as thriving. There was little poverty left in this part of the kingdom anymore.

Yet there was one person who knew something was wrong. Virgil Storm, better known as Paranoia, the throne's assassin, looked up at the castle in the distance with an almost somber look in his eyes.

You could see the slight guilt churning in his stomach, but you could also see the moment when he squashed it down until it was nothing. You could see the moment the smug satisfaction took its place.

Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd. It seemed almost eerily quiet for how many people were in the market. And then the whispering started.

"Is he really dead?"

"What's going on?"

"Who's going to take over now?"

Virgil heard it all. Every whisper and every movement. The crowd looked nervous, like as if they didn't want to believe it but at the same time had already accepted it.

The realization seemed to hit everyone in the market at once. Some people started crying, some screaming. Some people were just staring at each other in shock, unable to do anything but wonder where it had all gone wrong.

King Thomas of Galatia was dead.

~

"I assume you did it correctly?" The scathing voice could only be one person, and Roman didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment. Not when he was still basking in the fact that he was King.

"Leave me alone, Paranoia," Roman answered without turning around, still admiring his reflection in the mirror. He had the crown on top of his dark red, fluffy hair. "I don't need you here."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Roman." Roman turned around with a glare, seeing a smirk on Virgil's face. "You know that I have to be here. After all, I'm supposed to be with the king at all times to ensure said king doesn't get killed."

"And how well did that work out?" Roman asked, narrowing his eyes. "Last time I checked, my father is dead."

"And who hasn't shed a single tear for him?" Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Kings don't have time for tears," Roman snapped.

"I wouldn't exactly say that. I'm sure Thomas cried when your mother died. After all, that was his last chance to get a worthy heir."

"I don't have time for you to be a bitch. Leave me."

"No." Roman finally sighed and gave up, turning back to the mirror. There was no way to get Virgil away if he was resolved to do something.

"You never did answer my question," Virgil said quietly.

"And what question was that?" Roman glanced back at Virgil.

"Did you do it right?"

"Well enough. What's done is done anyhow. It can't be reversed," Roman stated.

"I hope for your sake you don't learn to regret things, your highness, because I have a feeling by the end of this we'll both have much to regret," Virgil muttered.

"And I hope for your sake that you don't piss me off, because I could make anyone disappear." The threat was clear in Roman's words, but Virgil didn't seem concerned.

"You forget something," Virgil said, smirking. "I am your way to make things disappear. If you even tried I would kill you first. I'm not going down alone."

"That's... god damn it why do you have to be right," Roman grumbled. "Some days I really wish I could just kill you."

"Same here, Roman. Same here," Virgil said with a sigh.

751 words.