Chapter Text
A large castle stood on a hill above the small village, its intimidating presence causing it to look as if it watched intimately over the village.
Living inside it was a small family that controlled the kingdom which the people in the village found quite excessive.
Despite the small size of the kingdom that they ruled over they were still an independent kingdom, though many other ones had offered them to join their kingdoms.
The Broflovski’s were the people that ruled over us. No one in the bill was particularly impressed or fond of the king and queen, but no one let their voice be heard.
King Gerald was the one that took all decisions, and when he announced that he and queen Sheila would be stepping down from the throne the villagers were happy.
We cheered and partied happily until the king and queen heard of our celebration of their retirement and threatened to imprison some of the village’s well known people.
As expected that did not slide well with the villagers and the hatred towards the king and queen grew stronger.
Their reason for retirement was their son who was turning eighteen years old in a short time, which would be the same day as his coronation.
He had never been seen by any of the people in the village along with his younger brother, not even their knights were allowed to see the two of them.
Rumours had it that the prince was incredibly beautiful and therefore he was kept hidden, though some other people claimed that the prince did not like the king and queen like most of the villagers.
I had also heard a rumour that the prince would end the monarchy in his parents’ kingdom once he would take over, making the boy sound like some sort of saviour of our people.
Neither did he have a wife nor a woman that had been chosen for marriage for the prince, which was a big public scandal since the monarchs were assigned someone at a young age.
Personal experience had shown me that no one that worked close to the Broflovski family could even get close to the prince.
The closest position to the prince was as his personal knight, but you just stood in front of his room the whole day in case someone tried to break in.
Anywhere the prince went his face was covered by a veil, and only the maid that had been the closest to the queen had seen the two of them as she brought them up after birth.
When escorted to the king’s hall or the rare occasion when he was allowed out in the castle garden the prince carried the same veil, making him unrecognisable.
Like my father before me, and my fathers father before me, I served as a knight for the royals. I mainly stood before the gates to the castle, sweating in the thick hauberk that covered me from head to toe.
My service was a vengeance for my grandfather. So had my fathers service been.
The previous king, the father of king Gerald, had been the reason for my grandfather’s death. In cold blood he had killed my grandfather publicly after he had rebelled against the monarchs.
Father had never managed to get his revenge and therefore handed the honours down to me.
So my mission as a royal knight was to work my way up to be the prince’s personal knight to get as close as possible and kill him.
Mother and father owned a bread shop in the village which me and my sister helped out with, though I was rarely able to now.
Serving as a knight for the monarchs had never been a dream of mine whereas running the bread shop had been, though I doubted anything would ever come true with that.
One morning my father rushed into my room in our house above the bakery, loudly exclaiming things at me as I tried to process the fact that I was no longer asleep.
Behind him approached my mother and asked my father to quiet down and allow me to sleep a little longer before I had to go to the castle.
“No, Sharon, you do notget how big of a deal this is!” my father told her excitedly. “Stanley, the prince’s personal assistant position has just opened up!”
“What? What happened to the boy that used to assist him?” my mother asked curiously.
“Miss Cartman on the other side of the road told me that he quit. He could not deal with all the issues surrounding the king and queen.”
“Sounds like a great opportunity for you, Stanley.”
“Stop calling me ‘Stanley’. And I’ll be sure to check it out,” I said as I sat up on my pallet, scratching my shoulder.
After getting ready and grabbing a bite of food my father walked me to the castle since he wanted to let the people that worked for the monarchs aware that I was up for the trial for the prince’s assistant position.
“The king’s hall,” a man told my father. He was a lot higher set than I was and had been working for the king way longer than I had been.
The man stopped my father as he was making his way through the gates alongside me, and told my father that villagers that did not work for the king were forbidden within the walls of the castle.
“Come on, Tucker,” my father began. “I worked here, too. Both the king and you know who I am. Just allow me inside.”
“I am sorry, Marsh. I am afraid that I can not do that,” the guard said, hand on the handle of his sword. “Go, Marsh.”
“All right. Good job, Stanley. You’ve got this, okay?” my father assured me and I replied with a nod before I walked past the gates.
Father stood outside the gates for a moment and watched after me as I walked to the doors of the castle. I could not feel an ounce of nervousness since I went inside the castle on a daily basis.
Inside of the king’s hall it was swarmed with people, some random young men around my age and some of the older knights of the kingdom.
Each and every one of us were due to make an impression on the king, though I would likely be the very last one to.
Or at least one of the last ones to introduce myself. That would hopefully help me by making me memorable, since the last people seemed to be more memorable.
The king sat on the throne that intimately stood on a platform that watched over the hall with a large staircase leading up to it, his wife on a smaller one next to him.
A smaller throne stood on each side of the king and queen which must have been the princes’ thrones, whenever they would be able to take them.
Nerves tingled up my fingertips as I stood there, watching the men before me get fewer and fewer as I waited for my turn.
“Woman! There is a woman here!” king Gerald suddenly said and jumped up from the throne. “Guards! Escort her!”
Through the crowd two of the higher set knights elbowed their way to the throne where a confident woman stood in a man’s hauberk.
She did not even run away from her fate and allowed the two guards to drag her down the flight of stairs before leading her out of the hall, most likely throwing her out of the gates.
Her face stayed the same throughout the incident. She did not protest against the guards or the king. I admired her, and I think that more people should have.
After I had gotten my opportunity to speak to the king I would try to find her again, maybe I could get her to assist me with my mission.
Hours passed until I was able to get close to the throne. King Gerald was visibly tired but he kept his posture and acted as if he was not.
“Go ahead,” he said to me.
“Your majesty,” I said and bowed down to him. “I am Stanley Marsh, the son of Randy Marsh, a retired soldier for your kingdom.”
“I know of your father,” king Gerald said. “Why do you think that you would be a perfect fit for the position of working so close to the prince.”
“First of all, I’ve been a knight here since I was fourteen, so almost four years soon. I am around the prince’s age, and I feel like I have earned it.”
“Thank you, sir Marsh,” the king said. “You can go now.”
“Thank you, your majesty,” I said, bowing down again before I nodded to the king and made my way down the staircase.
Days passed before anyone heard a word about who had been lucky enough to land the role as the prince’s right hand man.
One day after around two weeks, four weeks before the coronation of the elder prince, the public was called out to the centre of the village.
“Dear people of our beloved kingdom!” a mentor from the castle spoke loudly over the crowd. “The king has requested me to gather you all here today for an important announcement.”
Hurried whispers travelled between people in the crowd about what the announcement could be about. Father put his hand on my shoulder and smiled.
“The time has come, Stanley.” Oh, dear.
“Today is the oh precious day that our people get to know who will serve for the prince.”
Father shook my shoulder excitedly. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as it beat rapidly, although I did in fact not expect the position.
“It is my honour to announce to you all who will be doing the honours for our soon to be king,” the man said. “I will gladly tell you that who he is, is a healthy young man from our community.”
My father squeezed my shoulder causing his nails to dig into my skin. Imagine the disappointment I would become when I would not get the position.
“That lucky young man will join me upon this platform once announced,” the man kept going. “So here goes.”
The atmosphere was tense as fathers and sons crossed fingers or prayed to the one above to become the glorified right hand man of the mysterious prince that everyone wanted to get a better look at.
I felt my whole body get more tense with every second that passed as the mentor stalled, at this point I could not feel my fathers nails dig into my skin, or my mothers hands holding onto my arm.
On the other side of my mother stood my sister, Shelly, who seemed unfazed by the whole situation since she was not quite fond of me nor did she even have the opportunity to apply.
However, despite being a woman and not being able to apply either, my mother was nervous for my sake. Her reason being that I really did have a shot at this, for the first time in my life I had a real shot at something.
“The man that will from now on be known as the closest person to the upcoming king is—”
The mentor stopped again and took a deep breath as he looked down at the parchment in his hands that he had been looking down at every once in a while.
“Stanley Marsh!”
In shock I stood there as both my father and mother shook me excitedly, cheering loudly for me while the other people clapped for me.
Whether they were unhappy that they did not get the job themselves or that they simply did not care for the announcement, people were cheering for me.
“What are you waiting for, son? Get up there!” father demanded, patting his hand on my back as both my parents let go of me.
Once I stepped up onto the platform the mentor put his arm around my shoulders and congratulated me before he addressed the villagers while I stood there in pure shock.
“You can come up to the castle tomorrow morning, the king wants to address you,” the mentor said to only me after he dismissed the crowd. “That is if you accept the position, that is.”
“Yes—yes of course I will take it,” I said.
“Congratulations, son,” the mentor said and took my hand, his other hand on my shoulder and the parchment now in his pouch. “I will see you tomorrow, seven am sharp. Your duties begin immediately.”
I did not even get the chance to thank the mentor or bid him a goodbye or good even before he walked off, scurrying back to the castle with the hood of his robe over his head.
The following morning my mother woke me up at the crack of dawn because she wanted me to be ready for my first day formally working for the prince.
After taking me out on a walk around the village after she had me help her bake bread for most of my time awake that she later made me eat, my mother walked with me up to the castle gates.
She knew better than to try to argue with the castle guards and kissed me on the cheek for good luck before heading back home to open the bread shop.
“Sir Stan, it is you.”
King Gerald walked towards me after the gates reached down to the ground. A tall figure of a man stood next to him in a soft red coloured robe with the hood covering the hair.
The face was hidden as well with a veil, and though most of those veil things were partly see through this man’s was not. I doubted that he saw anything.
“It is an honour, your majesty,” I said and bowed down to the two. King Gerald asked me to quit it and held his hand out for a handshake instead.
“I am glad to have you here,” king Gerald said after he let go of my hands.
“I am glad to be here,” I said. Not as if I was not there almost every day already, now i would have to spend even more time there.
“This is the prince,” king Gerald said.
He gestured to the man next to him. The prince was taller than his father and he was taller than me as well, though he was quite leaner than I was.
Should I shake his hand? I thought, though I was scared that his father would throw me out and ask me to never return if I did, if it was not on demand.
The prince held his own hands gently in front of him, in no way indicating any form of gesture that he wanted me to take his hand.
“Go on now, son. Go back to your place.
Sulking, the prince nodded his head vaguely before turning back into the castle, a hand of his making its way up to his face to be ready to remove the cloth hiding him away once out of sight.
King Gerald made me follow him around the castle so I would be able to go around to take care of the prince’s needs and wants.
His second to last stop of the tour was outside the wooden doors of the elder prince’s sleeping chamber where he spent all his hours, I was directed to only open the door for the prince’s mentor and the king and queen.
Can the poor man not even speak with his brother, I had wondered. Neither was I allowed to open for the prince if he wanted to get out.
King Gerald passed me a horn.
“If the prince needs me, blow this,” the king said.
We ended in the king’s hall where king Gerald gave me a special sword and other things that only I was allowed to carry around.
Being the man closest to the prince was still a position rather far away from him, since the mentor was the only one that could get within the prince’s doors.
Though my newfound spot within the castle walls was thought to be the closest one to the prince, not as close as I hoped.
King Gerald had one of queen Sheila’s maids lead me back to the prince’s sleeping chamber since I was not sure of my way around the castle already.
The king was kept on the second story in the furthest wing from the castle entrance, a few minute walk from the king’s hall.
“It is an honour to meet you,” the maid said. “My name is Laura, I am the wife of the guard of the castle gates.”
“I am pleased to meet you,” I said.
“Did the king tell you that you eat every meal with them?” Laura asked me. Other than me, she was a full grown woman, and I knew who her older child was.
“No, he did not.”
“Okay. Did he show you your designated sleeping chamber?”
“No.”
“Like other people that work here in the castle that serve such a high purpose as yourself, you get a chamber close to the prince.”
“Really? So I live here now?”
“Yes, you do,” Laura said as we got closer to the prince’s chamber. “A letter has been sent out to your family, they will bring your things.”
“Oh.”
Laura and I stayed quiet until we got to the chamber where she pointed at a door on the wall that was next to the wall the prince’s door stood.
“That is your chamber. You can check it out, but I recommend that you get to businesses right away if you do not want to get thrown out.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“You are welcome. Someone will get you when breakfast is ready. I will see you around.”
“See you,” I said and put my hand on the handle of my sword. I breathed in to make myself look bigger and intimidating as I took my place in front of the door of his chamber.
-
The day that my parents brought my belongings to the castle for me, they were not allowed to see me to say their final goodbye’s for a while.
No matter how much they begged the king, the repeated answer they got was no, but king Gerald told them that they could write letters to me once every two weeks as long as king Gerald owned the throne.
King Gerald did however give my poor parents a chance to write me a letter for my first week of residency at the castle.
Personally it felt more like I was a prisoner and less like I was working for the king and for the prince, although my sleeping chamber was rather elegant.
There was not a lot inside of the chamber, but it was enough for me, I guess, since I spent all day standing outside the prince’s door anyway.
Inside my personal chamber was a pallet way more comfortable than the one back home, a chair on the other end of the chamber and a commode.
My windows gave me a great view of the village outside the walls of the castle gardens. I could see my parents’ shop from the window.
I would be lying if I said that I never felt homesick. I missed my parents, and at some points I even missed Shelly as well.
At the castle I had no one to speak to, there was no one around my age except for the prince whom I was not even allowed to address.
Hopefully that would change once the prince became king. Despite being the one closest to him, I did not know the prince’s name.
Every day passed dreadfully slow as I stood there outside the door, guarding whatever, I was not even sure what.
His mentor stopped by every day of the week and said hello to me every time, but when the king came he did not acknowledge my presence, and the queen did the same.
I ate breakfast and supper with the maids and kitchen staff, and I had to allow a maid to drop by with each meal for the prince.
One day a maid dropped by in a hurry and passed me the platter with the food for the prince and assured me that it would be okay if I brought it to him.
She left me there in a nerve wreckage, I was way too scared to knock on his door. What if the king came and saw me conversing with his son? He would most likely throw me out or something.
His food would get cold if I would not knock soon. I could also get in trouble for that. So eventually I knocked on the prince’s door.
I had not even heard the prince’s voice before, nor even seen his face, or hair.
My jaw nearly dropped when the prince opened the door, allowing me a sight of his magical green eyes and the neat curly red hair.
A cloth covered the lower part of his hair like his nose and mouth. I was too scared to say anything to him, so I simply stood in silence with the platter in my hands.
“What do you want?” the prince asked me.
All I could do was simply stare at him in awe while I was completely silent. The prince looked me up and down before his piercing eyes met mine again, he looked rather annoyed with me.
“What?” he insisted.
I raised the platter up so that he would catch a sight at it and the prince took the platter into his own hands, I thought that he would slam the door in my face.
He put the platter to the side and stared at me for a little bit longer. “You are not supposed to knock, you know. I could tell my father.”
“Yes. I know, I apologise,” I stammered. “The maid told me to—I was not going to—”
“It is fine,” the prince dismissed. “Though I recommend that you do not do it again.”
“Yes, I will not,” I assured him with a nod right before the prince closed the door in my face.
Never before in my life had I gotten as flustered. I put my hand against my cheek and felt how warm my face was comparing to my hands.
My father was expecting me to kill him. The sole reason why I was there was to murder that beautiful young man to venge for my grandfather who I had never met.
Surely I would be able to maintain my goal, as long as I did not see the rest of the prince’s face, or got to know him at all.
I had to get it over with quickly, yet I had to do it after the prince’s coronation since it wouldn’t be as much of a revenge was he just a prince. It would be rather anticlimactic.
Father wanted it to be a big deal.
The prince would become the shortest reigning monarch in the history of his kingdom, and that history would be made by me.
But only if I would be brave enough to stick to my word and follow through. Getting to know the prince would make my work harder.
Something deep in the back of my head was resisting the thought of me killing the prince, as if I would not want to do it.
Not that I really wanted to, but I had to. My head was in two different places at the same time, thoughts racing and my mind spinning.
I was doubtful that I would have the guts to kill the man, I was way too much of an empathetic person to be able to kill a man.
But I had to. That was the only reason why I was here.