Much earlier but nearby, something else happened, with unforseen consequences.

…

The Queen's wetnurses scurried about, trying to keep Her Majesty from bleeding to death as she gave birth. When the baby finally emerged, it looked like a healthy baby boy. A new prince was born! First and eldest of the Queen's children, luckily it was a son; a male heir to the throne. The King would be notified when it made sense to do so. They would probably meet in a few years.

…

Obvious rituals regarding the birth of a new royal were performed, and proceedings proceeded. A few short years passed, and the new prince, born with a star ruby core, had his instructions begin. Basic things were taught first, such as the kingdom's geography and its neighbors- both monster spawning areas and other countries. Most neighbors were either enemies or no-man's land. The prince, since named Prince Star Ruby IV didn't find these lessons too difficult.

"Bad!" he would point out to everything on the map table except his own country. Rather simple, and always right. Even if it wasn't an actual enemy or other dangerous area, it was smarter for a leader to consider all opposition, even allies, as enemies.

Prince Star Ruby IV did like animals- he was a royal, and was permitted them. He was permitted slaves, as well. He didn't need to know that's what they were, and he didn't understand when he was told as part of his lessons. But there was a problem that got worse as he aged. One particularly bad day was seen by the vizier, or king's personal advisor.

The prince was playing with a pet bird. One of notoriously rare and elegant variety, caught just for him. He was petting its head very hard, not recognizing his own strength. The nanny watching to make sure his play time was productive was terrified that she'd be executed if the prince killed the animal. That's when she heard the crunch of its spinal cord.

"Birdy fell asleep. Birdy not hungry?" He was still holding the animal's body, its wings unable to open. Its head dangled and flopped, obviously broken and dead. He had apparently been trying to help it eat.

The nanny had to think quickly about what she was told to say when a prince, duke, or king killed a pet unintentionally. "Birdy wants to go sleep in his cage. Do you want help?" The prince couldn't walk, so he'd need help anyway. That wasn't what happened, though.

"Fly to your cage birdy!" the prince yelled as he took hold of the bird's wings, which he outstretched himself, and threw it at the tower window. It flopped against the bottom of the window, and rolled out. Someone on the streets below screamed shortly after.

…

The problem got worse over the few short years that followed, with female slaves (purchased for various purposes) were accidentally killed by the prince. He wasn't told about where all the animals and people went, until shortly before his passing.

"Where is Ziricon? She is supposed to be here!" he screamed at his nanny. The nanny made a choice.

"She died. She's gone now."

"What is died? I don't want her gone!"

The nanny knew she made the wrong choice. She was going to be executed because she had taught something the young royal wasn't supposed to know, so she might as well keep going.

"Death, die, died. That means that person is gone. They are always gone, and there will never come back. Just forget them."

"How did she died? What made her go away?"

"Yep. This was bad", the nanny thought. Begrudgingly, she continued. "You broke her neck. She died because you broke her bones. She needed those bones to be alive, and you destroyed them. That's why we took her away. She was not tired, she did not go to sleep. You pet her head too hard and held your grip too tight, and you broke her neck when she tried to get away."

The prince was bawling.

…

Over his final year, he constantly thought about bones- he felt them under his fingers when he pet animals or people's heads. He didn't want them to go away, not ever. He liked petting things when he was listening to the teacher, and tried to learn what they taught. He didn't learn very fast, or very easily though. He really did try his best to learn. Not much was taught to him by Earth's 2010 standards, or even its 1800 standard, and he could see his teachers getting frustrated and angry at him for not understanding.

In his final six months, the teachers and nannies couldn't help but notice that he was beginning to develop... certain abilities.

A few months later, even though gossip was outlawed and secrets and privacy were the highest priorities, the various royal consorts got wind of it, and actions had to be taken. A better prince had been born years prior, and this abomination had to be removed.

He was buried far, far to the south, south of even the southernmost village, near the coast, in the middle of a wild patch of darkleaf trees. To ensure as much evidence of his existence was erased and forgotten, many of the servants and pets he had, many of which were retrieved from the secret places their bodies had been stashed, were buried alongside him in a mass grave, which went unmarked.