Devil’s Bodyguard

The cold wind gently brushed past densely packed trees. Houses with bodies of logs and roofs of straw stood tall against the darkness. Everything was tightly shut as if the warmth of the house would leak out into the coldness of the night.

One house stood out. Instead of uneven logs and patched straw, the house was set with stone and clay. It was lit brightly and figures dressed in luxurious silk and velvet moved about inside.

The quiet chime of glasses knocking against glasses rang through the house along with happy chatter. While the peasants outside starved in the cold, the nobles laughed and ate well in the warmth of their house.

~~~~

Evelyn Phoenicia, the youngest princess of the Kingdom of Phoenicia, watched the smiling and rosy faces of well-dressed men wander around the grand hall.

Evelyn's infamous purple eyes and silver hair were disguised perfectly and none of the noblemen noticed anything unusual.

After all, they could only see a brown-eyed young master enjoying a party in the village of Carlisle. His blue silk robe embroidered in white thread gave him a lofty and proud aura but he conversed very naturally with the nobles around him whose smiles grew wider by the minute.

Flattering praises, mindless gossip, and loud laughter was being exchanged as Evelyn looked towards a certain dark corner.

Half hidden by shadows, a man stood there quietly. He wore a handcrafted mask with veins of gold that accentuated his bright emerald eyes.

His jet black hair was messily combed and fell down to his neck which made his lack of a hairstylist quite obvious. His robe was pure white with inky cranes in flight and very simple compared to the costly robes of the others.

No one surrounded him despite his handsome features. To them, it would be a waste of time pretending to be courteous to him since nothing on him displayed his wealth, as was a custom of nobles in Carlisle.

However, If a random person from the Kingdom of Castillo were here, they would realize that this handsome young man was Asura Castillo, the fifth prince of the Kingdom of Castillo.

On his face was his signature expression filled with icy coldness. Yet, despite the annoyance shown on his face, he did not leave the celebration. He appeared to be waiting for something.

Evelyn turned back to the nobles around her before starting to socialize and waited with him.

She knew something big was going to happen tonight, hence she followed him.

Perhaps he realized and perhaps he didn't but she meant no harm. She only wanted to wait for the beginning of everything.

A movement from outside the stone house made her raise her guard. There was a sharp clink and the windows shattered into a thousand pieces.

Men in black masks entered in and surrounded the nobles.

"Put everything down! If you don't listen to what we tell you to do, you might just come across an accident!"

Horrified, wine glasses and bottles of alcohol were dropped onto the carpeted floor as the nobles started rushing away like cowards. The knights hidden away in the grand hall appeared and started to engage with the masked men.

Blood was spilled. Weapons were ringing. The knights countered as best as they could but started to fall back as more masked men appeared near the nobles.

There was a loud scream when a sword ripped through the c.h.e.s.t of a short noble in a green brocade robe.

Evelyn ducked her head to avoid a sword thrown towards her before calmly watching the proceedings. Several more nobles died at that moment.

The few remaining fell on their knees and promised everything they could in order to make the masked men stop the slaughter.

"I'll give you my daughter in marriage, just please don't kill me!"

"I can hand over my wealth as long as my life is spared"

Several other variations rang out and the masked men stopped to stare at the kneeling nobles.

Evelyn crossed her arms and leaned against a stone pillar as the knights surrendered after seeing the signal from their lords.

Her eyes wandered over the prince who had finally come out of the shadows and was standing in front of the masked men.

He appeared like a f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y held hostage that was being tightly monitored by the mysterious attackers.

But as soon as the nobles surrendered, he stepped out of the enclosed ring of masked men and walked towards the nobles.

"Give up your wealth and pledge your allegiance to me. Or else…" he trailed off while kicking a corpse that was blocking his path. Immediately red blood stained his white robe making it more vibrant.

"For someone as powerful and as awe-inspiring as yourself, of course, we will pledge our allegiance and go under your command." The tongues of the nobles starting spewing out praises again which the prince ignored.

He waved his hand and several black pills appeared in the hands of the masked men. They held them out to the kneeling figures.

Those who hesitated were met with a raised sword, which forced them to hurriedly swallow the pills.

The prince turned away from them and looked towards Evelyn who was still leaning against the wall.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Amused, her lips curled into a dazzling smile that wasn't diluted by the plain facemask she had on.

"I don't intend to do anything but watch, princeling." An intentionally deep and magnetic male voice answered the prince.

"You followed me here so obviously you knew something, so tell me who gave you the information."

Evelyn blinked innocently, "I wasn't given information."

"Then why did you follow me?"

"What? Do I need information in order to follow you? What if I thought you were pretty and followed you because I was bored?"

The prince was not entertained by her answer and his brows furrowed, "Then you must have a lot of leisure time."

"That I do."

Just as those words left Evelyn's mouth, the prince attacked. He pulled out twin daggers that were hidden in his robe and slashed towards Evelyn's neck.

She moved back a step and the dagger missed. Placing a hand on her bound c.h.e.s.t, she spoke in an aggrieved tone.

"Here I thought we were having a nice peaceful conversation, princeling."

The still kneeling nobles and the masked men stared as this weird interaction played out.

The mouth of one of the masked men twitched before he stepped out.

"My lord, would you like for—"

"No." A blunt reply cut him off and Evelyn grinned.

"I'm sure you have many things to do, Princeling. So I'll take my leave. Perhaps, we'll end on a better note next time."

She walked into a shadow and disappeared as if she had been one of the shadows the whole time.