A Family Gathering to Remember

I stood up, dusted the snow off my dress, and my outfit lost its sparkle, returning to my jacket, skirt, and earmuffs. A crowd of royal family members, guards, the Prince, and Princess Amelia were before us. Behind them was the structure of the castle, standing tall, and the turrets were covered in white frost. The sound of their voices faded into the back of my mind.

How embarrassing! They all saw me fall like that. Are they all talking about me?

I looked into Prince Cassius’s eyes as he held my arm.

“Janessa, are you alright? Jim, pray, tell me. What has truly happened?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I said.

He dragged me inside the castle when Jim followed him.

“You will not believe it, Your Highness! Phil, the Captain of the Royal Guard, tried to murder Lady Janessa!” cried Jim.

Cassius’s grip on me tightened as he faced Jim with glaring eyes and wrinkled eyebrows.

“Is that true?! If so, we must screen all the guards. Leave no one unchecked and question them all. Where is Phil, anyway?”

Jim looked at the ground.

“Your highness, we had to leave him behind.”

He let me go and stomped toward Jim, clenched his fist, and glared at him.

The prince screamed, “How could you let him escape?”

The veins of his fist were visible as it shook. Jim raised his arms, and his eyes bulged.

My God! He looks so pissed. I just hope he doesn’t hit him. Poor Jim!

“I am sorry,” said Jim.

Jim made and broke eye contact several times. He stepped backwards, away from the prince, and looked into the distance.

“Hmm,” said Cassius.

The prince moved his fist away and paced back and forth. He placed his hand on his chin and stared at the castle with narrowed eyes.

Jim placed a hand on his own arm, turned away, looking at the prince every few moments.

“Whatever can we do?” whispered Cassius.

“I will help search for him,” said Jim.

“Alright.”

Cassius’s velvet, black cape fluttered in the wind. He cracked his knuckles, stared at the sky, and at Jim.

“Look, Cassius,” said Amelia.

He looked beside himself as Amelia placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder.

“Cassius, let us go indoors. We can decide there,” said Amelia.

“Alright.”

The prince’s facial muscles softened as he looked at me. Still, his eyes soon turned to the ground, and then to the sky.

I’m glad that Amelia is here. She knows how to calm him down.

Cassius sighed and trudged indoors.

The tapestry flapped next to the window. The cool wind brushed against the hall. Waiters appeared as they held trays of juice, sandwiches, and garlic bread.

“Miss, what would you like?” asked one of the waiters.

“No, thank you.”

What if someone poisoned these? I can’t fight with death twice in one day.

The whole family stood in the hallway, and they all spoke to each other in muted voices. It reminded me of the chirping of birds early in the morning. The clock, however, nearly struck noon.

“Prince Evan has arrived from the war,” announced a guard.

Everyone around me bowed or curtsied, including Cassius, so I did the same. A man with light blue hair, wearing a suit of armor with a cape, held his helmet in his hands. He was dripping with sweat, and he limped forward.

“His majesty will now speak to the crown prince,” they announced.

The King arrived with his hands behind his back.

Evan bowed and said, “I sincerely apologize. Our troops must be replaced, they are all a group of cowards.”

“Very well. I am glad you have come to truce,” said the King.

“It is the only solution for this problem.”

“Indeed,” said the King.

Evan nodded and stared at his own helmet. His face was covered in sweat.

“Welcome back,” said Cassius.

“Hello, little brother. I hear you have found someone to marry.”

“Yes! Janessa, please introduce yourself,” he said.

I curtseyed and said, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Janessa.”

“It is nice to meet you, too. Well, I will be heading off to my chambers,” he said.

Cassius waited for Evan to leave before he said, “Well, we must address the guard issue. They tried to murder Janessa! Why? He is one of our oldest guards.”

He scanned the room, and so did I.

“It could be anyone,” said a woman.

“Indeed. Someone must have paid him. Why else would someone try to kill Janessa? If anything, the crown prince, I, or Princess Amelia are at the greatest risk,” said Cassius.

He had a point.

The King, who was silent for this whole time, said, “Are you certain that the girl was the target? I cannot help but feel that she was not, in fact, the real target.”

Huh? There was no one there aside from us.

“Your majesty, the only people were the coachmen, Jim, and Janessa,” said Cassius.

“It must be one of your many admirers,” said Amelia, placing her hand on Cassius’s shoulder.

Yikes. I’m genuinely scared of each and every one of his fans. Except for myself, of course.

“Hmm? Then we must find who is behind this scheme and nip it in the bud,” said Prince Cassius.

“Something does not add up,” said a young man with curly, purple hair and glasses.

“Tell us, dear cousin,” said Cassius.

He shook his head and said, “It looks as though you still fail to remember my name. No matter, it is Kelly. What does an admirer have to do with the captain of the royal guard?”

“Clearly, he is but an old and greedy man,” said a woman. “She must have bribed him dearly.”

Kelly said, “No, I have known Phil for long enough. He refused to accept some coins from me because assisting me with the border was part of his job, when in fact, it was not. We have separate border guards, after all.”

“You have a point,” said Cassius.

They all began chattering amongst themselves.

“Phil must have had a daughter, then who must have motivated him. A daughter who might be an admirer of our Cassius,” said an elderly woman.

She walked forward with a stick and exchanged smiles with Amelia.

“Precisely,” said Princess Amelia.

The King glared at the elderly woman.

“Have you all forgotten how Phil lost all his children but one in the flood?” remarked the King. “He has but one son who is merely nine years of age.”

They began talking amongst themselves once again.

“Ah,” said Cassius.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” asked Kelly.

“Someone must have blackmailed him! That's what Phil told us,” I said.

All eyes were on me as I backstepped and said, “Yes, go on.”

“No, you are quite right, Janessa,” said Cassius.

“Indeed. Since his child is precious to him, someone must have used that against him, to make him do whatever!” said Kelly.

“Correct!” said Cassius.

Princess Amelia clasped her hands together, praying while the King shook his head. He stared at the carpeted floor, but his posture was upright.

“Have mercy on us!” said one of Amelia’s waiting women.

Amelia looked behind and glared at her. The waiting woman did not look at her even once.

“I do not know how this may sound, but I suppose it has happened for the better,” said the elderly woman.

The room fell silent.

“After all, I do not see any point in having our dear little Cassius marry someone of no name! Furthermore,” she said, coughing. “She is already pushing us into grave danger. Besides, I do not see a ring on her finger. Do you really intend on marrying her, Cassius?”

“Aunt, how could you say something like that?” said Cassius.

“Well?” she asked.

“Marigold, you could not have chosen a worse time to share your unsolicited opinions. Have you realized that it makes you sound like a prime suspect of attempted murder?” asked the King.

“My goodness, I simply do not believe it! Aunt Marigold, I had faith in you,” said Princess Amelia, in a flat tone.

“And I had faith in you, Princess Amelia,” said Kelly.

“I beg your pardon!” said Amelia.

“No, there is no way Amelia could have done such a thing. After all, she adores her future sister-in-law,” said Cassius.

Amelia fiddled with a strand of her hair. They all agreed with Cassius, and I gulped down, looking at my shoes.

Please, I don’t want to die a second time.

“If I may say something,” said a voice.

There was a cloud of mist and I couldn't see anything at all. The fog cleared in seconds, revealing the stone bust of Cassius, in front of us, with a fixed gaze on Cassius.

“What are you doing here, you useless, good-for-nothing…” said Cassius, rolling up a sleeve.

“Silence! Let the soul speak,” said the King.

“Fine.”

“I have witnessed what you have not. The guard captain and my sister were arguing last night,” said the statue without moving his lips.

It had no expression on its face.

The King faced the statue and said, “Arguing? What were they arguing about?”

“All I heard was Phil saying that he will pay Amelia back for the damage she has done to his reputation,” said the bust.

“You may leave!” said the King.

This is just a mess. It now sounds more like Amelia is involved in a cheating scandal rather than anything else.

“Father, I can explain,” said Amelia.

The mist flooded into the room, and an eerie melody sounded. The statue was soon gone, vanished into thin air.

“Curse that statue. Let us focus on one issue at one time,” said Princess Amelia, in a high-pitched voice.

“Good grief! My children have all tarnished my reputation, save for dear Evan,” said the King, shaking his head.

“What did I do?” asked Cassius.

“Do you really have the nerve to ask that now? After your little stone figure accused me of something so crude? How could I, as a noble woman, possibly damage such a lowlife’s reputation? Phil must have been drunk!” said Amelia.

“Exactly. Princess Amelia, surely you had no ulterior, perverse motives with Phil?” said Kelly.

“Of course not.”

He walked close to Amelia and said, “That must be why he was speaking of you blackmailing him.”

Princess Amelia froze and didn’t say a word. We waited for quite some time, but she said nothing.

“What would you gain from all this?” cried Cassius.

It’s better if I don’t try to become the queen after all. I’m not even engaged to the prince yet. So much chaos already.

All of a sudden, we heard a blood-curdling scream from afar. I covered my ears while everyone skipped in the direction of the sound.

“Settle down, we must keep calm,” said Kelly.

I followed the crowd from far behind, panting while the rate of my heartbeat accelerated.

“No one ever listens to me,” said Kelly, catching up behind me.

We stood in front of a door as it jutted open.

“These damn assassins!” said Evan.

The floor pooled with blood as a hooded man’s body fell to the ground. The first to gasp was Amelia, as she pushed all the others aside and stared at the corpse with an open mouth. Everyone exchanged looks and began talking.

Cassius removed the hood and asked, “Who is he? Does anyone know?”

“No,” said a few.

“No…” said Princess Amelia.

He had long, green hair with a beard.

“Oh. Amelia, is he not the page who brings you flowers from a distant lord?” asked Evan.

“Ah! Indeed. You are quite correct. I wonder who sent him. How dreadful,” said Amelia.

“Distant lord? Who might that be? If you reveal his identity, we will make arrangements between the two of you,” said Prince Cassius.

He briefly looked at me with a slight smile.

“No need, Cassius. I am afraid we are no longer together,” she said.

She’s just lying at this point. What can I do?

“Princess Amelia, we must locate the distant lord so that we can charge him with the assassination attempt. Please cooperate with us,” I said.

“Yes,” said Kelly.

“I am afraid I agree with them,” said Aunt Marigold.

Cassius looked back at me with a smile.

“Right, he is… Lord Orpheus.”

“Who might that be?” asked Kelly.

“He hails from a distant land. He is not from here,” said Amelia.

“Which land?” asked an elderly man.

“Snowstar. Yes, Snowstar,” said Amelia.

The room fell quiet once again. Jim excused himself out of my way and whispered in Cassius’s ear. The prince’s eyes closed, only to widen.

“Oh. Is this the truth?” remarked Cassius. “You may leave.”

Cassius walked toward Amelia with his hand on his hilt.

“Princess Amelia, the name of this man is indeed Orpheus. He is but a simple page and Phil’s brother.”

“Is that so?” asked Amelia.

She backed away from him, one step at a time.

“Amelia, you either tell us the truth, or this fight ends here,” said Cassius, hand on his sword’s hilt.

“Cassius, you are far too confident!” said Amelia. “Did you forget that you possess no magic?”

Are they going to fight now? I must protect the prince at any cost.

Cassius’s Adam's apple moved as he looked down and moved his hand away from his sword. He backed away.

“Coward. It is I who should be the heir to the throne. Cassius has no magic whatsoever. How can he possibly deal with thousands of enemies? Prince Evan appears to be a perfect candidate. But his magic might as well be non-existent because of how weak it is,” said Amelia.

“Do you really believe you have what it takes to be heir to the throne?” asked the King.

“Of course, father! Not that you would understand. Only mother understood me,” said Amelia.

“Do not bring her name into this,” said the King.

“It was Cassius who sacrificed for the Queen anyway,” I said, aside.

They all stared at me, especially Amelia.

“Oh, right, just because Cassius foolishly sold his soul, we expect him to be our hero? He still has nothing to be proud of. At least Janessa has her little dressmaking magic, oh wait…”

What does she mean by that?!

I rolled up my sleeves, clenched my jaw, and touched my pendant.

“Dear sister, how much you have changed since I last saw you! What happened?” asked Evan.

She wiped her dry eyelid and said, “You would not understand. No one would. I am no longer myself. Orpheus misled me with useless trinkets, and he plotted all this despite how I begged him not to. Well, he is dead right now, is he not? I am a free woman. Please, lock me away, and never look at me again.”

“Alright, this is quite enough. Amelia, you must spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement until further notice,” said the King.

“Father, no, please! Fine, I will tell all of you the truth. You see, Orpheus had convinced me that I was the true and sole heiress and that if I somehow had Janessa killed and placed the evidence so that it was Evan who did it, Cassius would fight Evan, and one would certainly kill the other. Among this chaos, I would prove to father that I was the only worthy heir.”

“Yet, you did the opposite of proving your worth of being the next sovereign,” snapped Cassius.

Amelia drew his magic wand from her sleeve and aimed at Cassius.

“Indeed,” said the King.

I summoned the light within my pendant and went to the magic wardrobe, where I kept the goddess costume. Rushing into the costume, I transformed into the elemental goddess, with her purple dress and clover shaped staff.

By the time I entered Cassius's dimension, I found him dodging Amelia while running away. She landed an orb of energy, but Cassius shielded himself with the sword, which began to melt quickly. He dropped the sword onto the floor, and it was simply molten steel.

I aimed at Amelia and said, "Earth! Vines of the forest, engulf her at once."

Green vines and branches twined around her, and she dropped the magic wand. The wand created a sphere of fire on its own. She tried to fetch it, but tripped and fell away from her wand.

"Guards, take her away!" said the king.

"You will all feel my absence soon," said Amelia.

"Prince Evan, we should recruit new guards tomorrow," said Cassius.

"Agreed."

The king did not look her way even once as they arrested her.