Crown of an Empress

In a tavern usually filled with a bustling crowd even before night falls in the Kingdom of Realgar, a hidden training ground lies beneath it that was only known by a few. With no one’s knowledge, Emery Trigon, a trained assassin under the Arcana Organization, had been training 10 girls for five years now to become assassins fit to be sent to several missions for the sake of the people and the kingdom. 

“Huddle up!” Emery announced and within a few seconds, the girls lined up in front of her, sweating and trying to catch their breath after another rigorous day of training.

“Since all of you have been doing good in gathering intel, I decided to level up your missions. This time, I will have you work together to get something from the prime minister’s house.”

The girls immediately whispered to each other out of surprise because if they failed from that mission, they could possibly be accused of treason. And treason would only mean one thing… death. Before Emery could explain further details, one of the girls assigned to check on what was going on in the tavern came running towards their direction.

“Meister, a letter just arrived!” she exclaimed before handing the almost crumpled envelope to Emery.

Seeing the signature at the bottom left of the envelope, Emery knew something was up, especially that Headmaster Harriet was the one who sent it. She immediately dismissed the girls before heading to her own room and opened the letter with much anticipation.

Just by reading the very first statement, goosebumps started to cover Emery. A looming fear felt heavy behind her as she continued to read and with the devastating loss stated by the headmaster, Emery could not bring herself to imagine what had happened back to Silex Kingdom.

“We await your immediate return and get to the bottom of this incident.” That was the last statement that brought Emery in a quick rollercoaster ride of emotions as if she was yet again brought back to the past that she badly wanted to bury.

Heaving a sigh, Emery burned the letter before heading to the dining hall where the girls were already preparing for dinner.

“Meister, do you want to drink some wine?” Hailey asked. She was the one who won over the other girls’ favor because her food seemed to be some kind of drug that took away the fatigue of the day’s training. However, her offer was simply turned down, giving her the thought that their meister was not in a good mood.

When everyone settled on each of their seats, Emery called their attention.

“About your mission I previously mentioned, we will have to postpone it for now. I am being summoned back to Silex Kingdom due to an urgent matter.”

Ophelia, the youngest among them, raised her hand, making the others look at her.

“You’re not going to leave us here, are you?” Her voice was half-hopeful that Emery would not do such a thing.

It may be a bit hard to accept, however, the girls knew to themselves that they would not be able to manage things on their own without yet without their meister.

“Leaving you all here is a bit risky, given that there is no assurance of when I will be able to return. Thus, all of us will be traveling for three months to reach the Kingdom of Silex.”

Hearing her reply, the girls cheered because not only will they be going along with their meister but they would be able to see the world beyond the sea of sand of the Realgar Kingdom. It had always been a wonder to them how the world looked like, especially the ones they read in books about a place surrounded by mountains filled with trees or those places surrounded by a vast ocean. 

“However…” Emery added that silenced them in no time. “Once we reach the Kingdom of Silex, you must stay where the headmasters are. The mission to find out what is really going on back there will be given to me alone as it poses too many risks. Besides, you are still not ready for such kinds of missions.”

The girls did not object at all and just after dinner, they immediately ran towards their rooms to get ready for their long trip. That night, Emery could barely sleep at all as her mind replayed the words she read in that letter. The main headquarters of the Arcana organization had been raided and almost all of the assassins there were gravely injured. Whoever was behind that matter remained unknown. And to think that such an incident happened 3 months ago already, Emery grew even more anxious. Plus, another three months would be spent just her to head back to the kingdom. 

Other than that, Emery could not help but think of King Lawson. She just told him that she would never return just a few months ago but it seemed like she simply jinxed herself.

“Whatever,” she muttered to herself. “It’s not like we are going to see each other again.”

Before dawn would befall Realgar Kingdom, Emery and the ten girls were already at the main gate of the kingdom ready to depart. Each of them go on their horses with EMery leading the way.

Three long months went by quickly and the once peaceful palace in the capital city of Silex Kingdom came into a sudden state of panic.

“Y-Your Majesty, p-please have mercy on us!” 

Both eunuchs and maidservants, and even the guards were on their knees right before their king. 

“What exactly is going on?” King Lawson asked, who just finished his daily training at the Soldiers’ Hall. 

He was the ruler of the Silex Kingdom known for his militaristic rule that somehow stabilized their kingdom after a long-waged war. Though he was also criticized by his people due to his mistake of dethroning the rightful queen whom they believed was a great loss of the kingdom. Anyhow, his rule still brought prosperity that no one had dared to mention of that so-called mistake as if it was considered a taboo.

Vasmir, the king’s assassin, took the initiative to inform King Lawson of what just happened.

“The daggers had been stolen,” he said. “I… I mean… The daggers of the previous queen had been stolen.”

For a long minute that seemed like hours, a deafening silence covered the entire room and each of them felt like everything was getting frozen over.

“What?” the king asked, thinking that he might just have misheard Vasmir’s words.

This time, even Vasmir started to fear what was to happen, especially that those daggers were the remaining possessions of the previous queen that the king treasured so much.

“T-The daggers…” he stuttered. “They are missing.”

Feeling the deadly and piercing gaze of the king that seemed to be boring into their very being, the people around the king once again asked for mercy before any of them would lose their head. It was just that it happened so suddenly and even if the people searched every crook and cranny of the palace, there was no sign of them.

“Have you checked the markets?” the king asked quite calmly.

“We will check them immediately!” Several guards used this as an excuse to leave the premises.

King Lawson then turned to Vasmir as they headed to the royal court.

“Have you seen any assassins sneaking into the palace for the past few weeks?” he asked.

“No, Your Majesty. We have tightened our security in all parts of the palace so it would be close to impossible for someone to get in or out without getting spotted.”

King Lawson simply nodded. He was just hoping that by any small chance, the one who took the daggers was the rightful owner… Emery. It’s been months since they last saw each other and yet he still did not bring himself to believe that Emery won’t ever return.

Before they could even reach the royal court, the head eunuch came to greet the king.

“Your Majesty, the envoy from the Varmore Empire has arrived in the palace.”

“Give him the best hospitality the kingdom has to offer. I will go and see him myself after I get changed.”

Vasmir still accompanied the king into his chambers out of concern.

“Your Majesty, are you really serious about getting involved with the Varmore Empire? I am still doing a background check so this matter is not yet confirmed, however, there is a rumor that their emperor is eyeing our kingdom as his next target to conquer.”

“With all the things that happened in the previous months, we are not ready and we are not in the right condition to fight another war. Being diplomatically friends with the emperor is the best option as of now.”

He hated to admit it but Vasmir could only agree, especially that their army had taken quite serious damage after the battle against the Damas Kingdom. 

After getting changed, King Lawson was about to head out and greet the envoy, however, several maidservants came into view. 

“Have you found them?” the king asked.

“No, Your Majesty. But there had been a suspicious server who suddenly disappeared.”

“What does she look like?”

“She is a petite woman with brown hair. She just got employed a few weeks ago and vanished when the daggers were reportedly missing.”

“Brown hair?” Vasmir muttered loud enough for the king to hear.

“Does it ring a bell?” 

“Your Majesty, if I am not mistaken, she is that woman whom the previous queen protected when you came back from your visit in Thorine Kingdom.”

King Lawson could never forget that woman as she was someone Emery seemed to held dear to her.

“Jadeite, huh.”