Ophelia and The Dragons

Chapter 37

"Human nature is not black and white, but black and grey."

-Graham Greene-

***

Clyde's P.O.V

"Dammit! Why is it so hard to get rid of the crown prince?" I threw a vase to the floor, shattering it into pieces.

Apparently a special investigation had been held behind my back, led by Nicholas and supported by the other members of the royal family. 

I don't know the details, but they figured out that I was the one responsible for several assassination attempt toward the crown prince.

I had made sure to be very careful but ever since that Ophelia woman entered our lives, all of my plans have been ruined.

"The assassin has been captured, your majesty. What should we do now?" Naira was in the same room as me at the moment. 

Both of us were in panic mode. Even though she didn't want to show it, I knew she was worried for me. 

The assassin had been captured and brought to the court. Surely he would confess everything for the sake of his own life. 

Even though I trained the shadow clan myself, not everyone were willing to give up their lives for me, especially at a dire situation like this.

"What do you want me to do, your majesty?" Naira asked.

"At this rate, they are going to capture me. It's useless. They would track other members of the shadow clan as well. Everything I have built would go to waste!" I slammed my hand on the table.

"It's the witch's fault. Naira, you need to get out from the palace, get rid of the witch and find a place to hide. If there is someone I can entrust to finish the assassination, it's you." I ordered.

"But your majesty, what about you?" She asked sounding concerned for my well being. 

"It doesn't matter if I or the others get captured. I can always plan for a rebellion from within the prison, but we need to destabilize the empire first and the only way to do that is by assassinating the crown prince." I told her. 

Looking at her expression, she didn't seem too pleased with my order, but she knew better than to defy me.

"I understand, your majesty." She nodded before leaving from the window. 

I was right, not long after Naira was gone, the door to my palace was slammed open and I was going to escape, but it was futile, they had guarded all the exits and unlike Naira, I cannot jump from the roofs or use any secret tactic. 

I had always been the mastermind, but when it came to direct execution like this, I can't escape.

My front door was slammed open and the palace guard entered the room.

"The second prince, you are under arrest for an assassination attempt of the crown prince." The guards dashed toward me and captured me.

"Your punishment would be decided by the emperor later. You will be locked in the prison in the meantime." The empress walked inside the room and behind her was my mother.

"No, my son! You can't just capture him like this! He is the second prince." My mother tried to defend me.

"You are a nosy wench. I should have gotten rid of you and your son a long time ago. If it wasn't for my husband's words. Both of you would have been long dead. Now your son tried to assassinate my son, the crown prince. I should persuade the emperor to get rid of you as well." Her eyes gleamed. 

The empress, Wilhemina Aristos, had always been a terrifying woman. Even I was slightly scared of her, as much as I hated admitting it. 

She was a sharp woman with strong intuition, power and will. She was a great empress for the empire, but to me and my mother, she was the worst villain.

Ever since I had my own consciousness of the world around me, I could tell that I had been born under the unlucky star. 

I was the second son of the emperor, by birth, I was second in line for succession, but I was born from a mere maid. 

My mother was the empress' former attendant and maid in the past, but the emperor got her pregnant and she ended up becoming the concubine. 

However, even after rising in status, the empress always reminded my mother about her position. She was a concubine, far less powerful than the empress. She barely had any influence in the palace. 

As much as I hated to admit it, my mother had never been the smartest woman since she never received a formal education and her personality was rather timid compared to the empress, who always walked with her chin up in the air.

Even though the emperor made my mother the concubine, they had never slept together again because of his guilt toward the empress and he would let her do whatever she wished toward my mother. 

I knew deep down the emperor was afraid of the empress. One time, when she was angry, she burnt the entire wing of the old palace and went unpunished for it.

"You are nothing compared to me and my children. You will never be a part of this family!" It was the sentence she often told us growing up.

Everyone turned a blind eye toward our suffering. We never lacked anything, materially, but the social life in the palace was absolute hell.

 I knew right away that no one was going to help us, not even the emperor. That's when I decided, if no one would give me anything, I would just take it myself.

As I grew up, I tried to hone my skills, hoping to gain the emperor's favor this way. But no matter what I did, I would still fall behind the crown prince, who excelled in everything. 

He was assigned the best tutors and trainers in the entire empire. He was also given the most privileges and best facilities growing up. 

Meanwhile, I was only given what was left of that.

One day, I sat down and thought to myself "life is not fair!" I wondered how someone could have everything while others had to suffer like I did?

It was when I decided, if I couldn't outperform him the fair way, I would just use dirty tricks. I created the shadow clan with one mission, to assassinate the crown prince. 

It had been over two years, almost three, but he was still alive. Instead, once again I was caught and driven to a deep, dark hole.

You might be wondering why I didn't choose the emperor or the empress as my target. Truthfully, I had thought of that as well. 

However, the emperor was always heavily guarded. He also had years of experience in the military and politics. Assassinating him would be ten times more difficult. 

Even though he has aged, he still maintained his good health and sharp wit. Meanwhile, the empress was like a venomous snake. 

Her family came from the military background. I had never seen her fought at all, but my instinct told me she was dangerous. 

I had tried to assassinate the princess before using magic. There was a witch with dark hair who offered to do the deed for me. Of course I accepted it. She gave Serena the necklace and she fell sick, but that witch came and ruined everything. 

My mission failed back then. I was not too agitated since the princess was not my main enemy. I stopped caring for the princess.

It left the crown prince. He was my biggest obstacle in this palace.

I wanted to get rid of him, but I failed. 

And now I can sense death approaching on my doorsteps.

"The likes of you better pray to God right now, because I will do my best to persuade the emperor to place death execution onto you." With that, she left and I was dragged off by the guard to the prison.

As I stared at the moon for the last time in a while, I silently prayed.

"Naira, you are my last hope. Take my vengeance for me."