On a Peaceful evening in the royal castle of Nora Empire, two people could be seen walking and talking intimately with each other. Surrounding them is a beautiful garden filled with exotic and rare flowers.

Anyone that happened to listen to these lovebirds would get flowers in their stomach from too much sweetness. The worker named brook tending to the flowers in the garden was happy seeing that the princess he has cared for since birth has got a caring and lovely man. He was also a bit emotional realizing that the princess whom he treated like his own daughter would go to the neighbouring empire of Nova after marriage. But seeing the princess's happiness, he restrained his emotions to himself.

The various maids and guards walking around the castle were also happy that their little mistress has got the love of her life.

Today princess Isabelle was in a very cheerful mood, her love prince Timothy has finally gotten some free time and he chose it to spend with her.

Timothy Rnif is renowned by many as a chivalrous and brave prince of the Nova Empire, he has gained countless merits in battles and is widely known for his friendly and helpful nature. Many regard him as the golden prince who will bring the Nova Empire back to its golden age.

Both were walking with their shoulders locked and Isabelle had her head placed on Timothy's broad shoulder. Timothy was talking about his daily life when suddenly Isabelle's dress got stuck in a flower.

"Hmm? what's this flower.......it's really strange, I didn't know flowers could have spikes on them"

"It's called Solanum, dear princess. They are wildflowers and are usually found deep within the northern forest of death, I wonder how your father the king obtained it."

"That's a creepy name for a forest, prince timothy, why is it called so?"

"Well, I haven't actually gone there, but according to rumours countless dead beings are born in that forest, like Zephyr, Zombz and countless other atrocious beings."

"Is that so......just by hearing, I don't want to go there. Have you had any encounter with any of these monsters?"

"Yes, several times actually. The last was 2 weeks ago near the town of Rus, an Umbyr accidentally walked inside the human territory. I was present there at the moment, so I took care of it"

"Wow! you are so brave, prince. How was it? how did it look? please tell me!"

"Well, its teeth were really sharp, tore a part of my shoulder cloth. Its size is small but is extremely fast. It attacks by surprising its prey with high speed and quickly tears the victims head apart with its mouth.."

"But how is a small creature able to tear a human's head?"

"Actually princess, it can temporarily enlarge its head. When it widens its mouth, it can easily fit a human head inside. They are really dangerous creatures, but they are not so tough if they don't have that surprise element. I can just protect my head if I know it's there, then a single slash of sword and they die."

"Uuuuu! sounds so cool. Will the prince protect me if this Umbyr comes after me?"

"Of course, Princess. I am nothing but your slave after marriage"

"Oh don't say stuff like that, you know I'm not like that"

"Hahaha......yes, you are different from your father..."

"Hmm? did you say something?"

"No, princess. Just said, how much I love you"

"!! Y-Yes, I-I lo-l-love the prince too, we will be always together"

A tinge of sadness flashed past Prince timothy's eyes and from the bottom of his heart he thought to himself ' I had also hoped so...princess'

Oblivious to Timothy's mind, Isabelle was on cloud nine right now. Next week, their marriage will take place inside the royal castle of Nora. Everything was like a dream to Isabelle, she got the prince charming that she dreamt about in her childhood, she will become the future queen of Nova Empire, everyone around her loves and adores her. She thought she was the luckiest person in the world and had to do everything she can to return this happiness.

The couple talked for some more time when suddenly Timothy got an urgent message and he had to go away, though Isabelle doesn't know if it was an illusion, she faintly heard timothy say 'Sorry'

She didn't think much about it and went inside the castle to look for her father.

Her father is the king of the great Nora Empire, he inherited the crown from his father after the battle between the 5 brothers. It was rumoured to be an ugly and unpleasant fight, but the ones who actually witnessed the whole fight were either silenced or crippled by the current king. The fate of the ones crippled was much worse, their tongues were burnt with flames and their fingers were chopped off. So now, only baseless rumours remained about the fight.

Isabelle didn't know about her father's actions, everything was kept hidden by her brother, mother and the king. For her, she had the best father. Isabelle held her entire family dear, she could do anything for them. Even, fall in love with the man they chose for her.

"GET OUT!! and quickly find that little group!"

Isabelle heard her father's loud voice when she got near the throne room, she quickly opened the door and saw an elderly person walk out of the room with a letter in hand.

"What happened? Father."

"Oh? Sweetheart...it's nothing. Hired a group of people to investigate something, but it seems like they escaped with the money"

"How vicious of them!...... but why did father hire such a random group, we have our own spies right?"

"Yeah, but they have been slacking lately so thought to hire this random group. It was said that they are very trustful and highly skilled individuals, but it seems like it was all just lies"

"Hmm...what's the name of the group?"

"It's called Purple Solanum, they are a group of Assasins or odd jobs for hire. It was said that they never failed a task that was given to them...but it seems like your father fell for the trap"

"Hmph! how ugly of them to cheat the king like this. I hope they pay for their sins and wrongdoings.......so, that letter was an order to find them, I assume"

"Yes, they should still be in the city. So we will probably catch them by tomorrow"

"Hmm, let's hope that happens"

But what the king didn't know was, the letter asking for their help and this letter to catch them never went out of the castle's gate. Both of the letters were burnt by that elderly person, who was also the king's trusted advisor.

Isabelle went back to her chambers and changed to a comfortable silver robe before falling asleep on the luxurious bed, the night was peaceful. A cool wind was blowing outside, sounds of insects could be heard. In such a comfortable atmosphere, Isabelle quickly fell asleep but woke up to have her peaceful world turn upside down.

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA! HELP ! HELP! SAVE ME! SAAAAAAAAA ! —"

!!

Isabelle suddenly woke to the horrified scream in the middle of night. She noticed the wind to be howling, the sky to be roaring with beastly thunders and the sound of insects was replaced with the sounds of human screams.

Isabelle got a really bad feeling so she opened the door to seek for her parents, but the moment she opened the door, Isabelle saw a man running towards her from the end of the hallway.

His entire body was covered in flames, the melted armour sticking to his skin. His left eye has turned into a paste and drops of it were falling on his lips. His right eye was hanging from its socket, still hanging to that one nerve.

Isabelle saw the man's foot melt with the hot fire and saw him running towards her like a flaming comet. Scream and words got stuck in Isabelle's throat and she became petrified, luckily the man's right foot melted quickly and he fell right in front of the princess's legs.

"h..h...l....p.....h....e..lp......h.........—"

The man was still alive, he raised his burning hand towards the princess to beg for help, but that arm also quickly melted and all that remained of the man was a vicious and slimy liquid of blood, skin and his silver armour, with his right eye finally getting detached from that one nerve and rolled to touch Isabelle's toe.

Isabelle's brain stopped working, she just stood there like a horrified mummy, her eyes wide open and her mouth slightly open as if saying something gibberish.

Piss started dripping under Isabelle's robe and flowed down the floor to mix up with that horrendous remains of the man. It started smelling like rotten eggs and Isabelle finally came back to her senses. She saw the eyeball and the viscous liquid below her and started running towards her parent's bedchamber as quickly as possible, she didn't look back at the melted man and just ran towards her parents.

While running towards the bedchamber, Isabelle heard many more horrifying screams and came across many more mutilated bodies but she ignored everything as the only thing on her mind was her parents.

Some people with their body parts chopped off were still alive and they called for princess's help when they saw her, Isabelle saw their terrified eyes, their bodies covered with blood, the walls, the painting, everything was covered with human remains. For Isabelle, it was like a scene straight from her worst nightmares, but the only thing keeping her from breaking was her parent's safety.

But that hope also shattered when she opened the door to her parent's bedchamber.

The king's head was chopped off and was lying on the floor, the king's belly was ripped open and his intestines were exposed to the cold air. The small intestines were coming out of the belly and were hanging above the floor, his large intestine also mixed in. Isabelle saw her father's kidney and liver covered with blood and smelling like a dirty sewer, it was like whoever killed the king had great hate towards him and that hate finally unleashed when killing him.

Isabelle's mother was also in no better stage, though her stomach was still closed but her limbs were chopped off and were set on low fire near the bed, the limbs had already become roasted and were just waiting to be melted.

Isabelle puked on this sight, her puke making the already horrible smell of room more horrible. Isabelle fell on her knees, a small end of her robe falling on top of her vomit. Still, Isabelle didn't usher a word, everything just stuck in her throat and mind. Uncontrollable tears started falling down her cheeks, soundless screams coming out of her mouth.

Isabelle had to get out here right now, but she couldn't move or it was more like she didn't want to move. Deep inside she knew that if she stayed here she would also die a horrible death, but her body was not wanting to move. Somewhere inside her heart, she also wanted to just die here.

Isabelle didn't want to live this nightmare anymore so she grabbed a knife that was lying nearby and placed it in front of her throat. Isabelle thought this to be an easier death.

'My will to live was lost so easily', Isabelle laughed at herself and put force on the knife, the knife made a small cut on Isabelle's throat, just a little bit more force and I can meet father and mother in the heavens above, but her wish was short-lived when suddenly someone grabbed her hand and slapped her cheeks. The slap left a bright red mark on Isabelle's cheek, but for some reason, it didn't hurt instead it felt emotional and sad.

The words stuck in her throat finally became free and she ushered the first word of the day, "What happened? brook"

Brook was thanking the gods that he reached the princess before she did something stupid, he felt such pain from the slap that he thought his own cheeks were hurting. This was the second time brook has slapped the princess, the first being in the princess's childhood.

Brook knew they couldn't stay here, he knew that they need to get out of this castle fast.

"Take my hand princess, you need to leave this castle immediately. I will tell you everything along the way"

Isabelle took brook's hand and they started moving towards the secret door that leads to the outside.

"Brook, did my brother also meet the same fate?"

"Unfortunately No, your brother is one of the main figures that lead this coup"

"!!Coup? b-b-but why?! and br-b..brother?! how!?"

For Isabelle, it was unimaginable that the people of her empire would rise against the king, her father. The king always treated his people right, and people were happy inside the empire's wall according to Isabelle, but what Isabelle didn't know is that if she went beyond the castle's wall she wound find something completely different.

Of course, Brook knew about the princess delusional world, but he was also the one that contributed to it so he couldn't bring himself to tell Isabelle the truth.

"I don't know why people rose up against the king or why the young master rebelled against his father, but it was most likely fueled by Prince Timothy. He's the main figure of this coup" Timothy was also a part of this coup but him being the main figure is something that Brook made up on the spot, he didn't want the princess to think any of her family members in an extremely bad light so he pushed the entire blame on Timothy.

Isabelle naturally didn't believe what Brook said, her mind became a mess again and she lost control over her body. Isabelle shook brook's hands off and ran away to find Timothy.

"Princess! come back! don't go there!"

'He promised to protect me, he promised to stay together with me, he can't do it. Timothy can't do something like this', kept repeating Isabelle in her mind. She knew what she was doing is stupid, but she couldn't control herself and wanted to confirm it herself.

Isabelle ran past several more disoriented bodies before finally getting to hear Timothy's voice. She instinctively started to call out for him but was held back by Brook at the last moment. Brook covered the princess's mouth with his hand and told Isabelle to calm down or timothy and his men would spot them.

Isabelle didn't listen to Brook and dug her teeth around his hand, Brook released the princess mouth from the pain. Immediately before brook could put his hand back, Isabelle called out to Timothy, but before the words could leave her mouth, they got stuck by what Timothy said

"Did you kill the king and the queen?"

"Yes, sir! they are both dead"

"Good, they got what they deserved for making so many people suffer. I can't even count how many of this empire's poor people died because of his rule. What happened to their daughter, Princess Isabelle"

"Sir, we are still trying to find her. We went to her chambers but it seems like she already escaped from there"

"Then don't stand here and find her! We can't let any person with the blood this family remain alive. This is a cursed and evil bloodline, every ruler of this bloodline has been an evil and tyrant king. We can't let such a bloodline rule over this empire. Also, make sure to kill the princess without her feeling much pain"

Isabelle couldn't believe what she was hearing, or it was more like she didn't want to believe it. All of her life she has been taught about her father's greatness and the rapid flourishment of Nora Empire and it's people, but now reality didn't seem like that.

Isabelle also didn't want to believe that her beloved Prince Timothy is also involved in her family's death. Isabelle's legs became limp and she fell down producing a sound.

The sound didn't leave Timothy's ear and he quickly turned around to find Isabelle near the corner of the hallway.

"There she is! Capture her Soldiers!"

"Aye! Aye! Sir!"

Isabelle saw soldiers coming at her, Brook tried to drag the princess off from the floor but to no avail. The princess was almost dead inside, brook knew he had to do something. He knew it was also his mistake for not telling princess the truth and now that's it's being suddenly revealed to her, she can't wrap her head around it.

Brook's duty was to keep Princess safe, he would do anything for it.

Brook took the adrenaline drug he had bought from Purple Solanum two days ago, the drug showed immediate effects and the veins on brook's body started bulging. He carried the limp Princess and started running away.

The princess finally came back to her senses and saw brook to be carrying her. She saw soldiers chasing behind them and realized what she has done. She realized it was her mistake that this happened. Brook guessed what the princess was thinking and angrily rebuked her.

"Princess! None of this is your fault! You have to live! You have to stay alive! You must never die! You need to live another day so that we who died can leave this world peacefully."

"Wh-what are you saying! You are coming with me BROOK!"

"Unfortunately I can't promise that princess, the drug is taking quite a toll on my old body. My muscles are shredding apart because of this drug, also we can't escape now if both go together"

"No! You have to do it! You are Brook! You assisted father in so many battles, You can do anything!"

"That was in the past princess, now I'm nothing more than a gardener. But you, princess, is still young, you can do so many more and great things. You are the young Raven of dusk Family, you can do anything. Just believe in yourself and carry on living in our stead"

Brook reached a certain window instead of a secret door.

"Live long Princess"

"No, No! NO!"

Brook threw the princess out of the window and into the water. He cut off his hand with the knife from before and took the blood and painted a certain symbol around his belly, he smiled back at the falling princess, tears starting to fall from his sullen eyes and recited the spell.

The last thing Isabelle saw before hitting the water was a huge explosion, body parts flying around in the air, blood being spraying like rain.

Isabelle hit the water surface and started flowing along with it. Limbs, kidney, intestine, hair, eyes, brain matter, everything started flowing along with Isabelle and towards the dense forest that was behind the Castle.

Isabelle already passed out from everything.