Agrippina von Adler was somewhat similar to Alexandra in appearance. She was considerably taller than her younger sister and her body appeared to be far more femmine as opposed to Alexandra’s thin and nearly emaciated form. Furthermore her complexion was less pale than her sister’s and possessed a sort of youthful glow instead of a sickly paleness. She wore her coppery hair up in a sophisticated bun that was adorned with three emeralds. Around her forehead she wore a gold diadem that contained a large emerald in its center and a large medallion encrusted with emeralds hung around her neck. Like her sister she also wore a green dress, though hers was embroidered with a number of elaborate gold patterns.

Perhaps the most striking differences between Alexandra and Agrippina was in the region of their face between their noses and their foreheads. The upper left-hand side of Agrripina’s face possessed a small, almost unnoticeable vertical scar towards its outer edge. This scar was roughly half the length of a finger-nail and disrupted the flow of her left eyebrow. Then there were her eyes. The difference here was something that neither Alexandra or Ekkehardt could explain easily. Her irises shared the same emerald-green hue of Alexander’s and Alexandra’s eyes, but there was something else to them that just made them different. When Alexandra looked into her sister’s eyes she didn’t feel the same sort of warmth and comfort that she got when looking into Alexander’s eyes. Rather, she felt a cold emptiness. To Alexandra, looking into her sister’s eyes was like looking into a dark abyss.

“Hello, sister…” Alexandra said weakly. Ekkehardt saluted Agrippina, but remained silent. Agrippina did not acknowledge Ekkehardt in any way.

“How is my favorite little sister doing?” Agrippina asked, either forgetting or conveniently avoiding the fact that Alexandra was her only younger sister. She then sat down on a chair across from Alexandra. Behind her was a tall, muscular man with dirty blonde hair. The man had brown eyes, underneath which hung semi-circular regions of dark and puffy flesh. His skin was a shade paler than that of Ekkehardt. The man hung around the edge of the room, not maintaining the same disciplined stance that Ekkehardt had, but still prepared to draw the large two-handed sword that hung from his back and fight with it, should the situation require him to do so. With a blank expression on his face, he briefly turned his gaze to Ekkehardt. The two locked eyes, but only for a moment. In that one moment both men acknowledged each other’s existence. It was brief, it was cold, and it was distant, but, in the context they had found themselves in, it was the only way for Ekkehardt to greet his cousin, Ludwig Lowe.

“I am well. How about you? I thought you were still in Kleinkastelburg and that I wasn’t going to see you again until Alexander’s birthday,” Alexandra replied. Agrippina appeared confused.

“Oh, no. Originally that imbecile and his handlers were to come without me, but I decided to have those plans changed at the last minute.”

“I see...” Alexandra responded.

“That the information must have simply not filtered through to you. I guess that’s just how it is these days when you’re dealing with people within the imperial palace who are of… tertiary importance…” Agrippina said with a wide smile on her face.

“Oh…” Alexandra responded. She turned her gaze downward as a sad look began to form on her face.

“Anyways sister, how have things been since your… falling out with Francesco? I haven’t heard of any new marriage prospects, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was something that was kept between father, Alexander, and you,” Agrippina asked as she propped her feet up upon a book that was on the table in front of her. Alexandra watched as mud from Agrippina’s shoes got on the cover of her book, a history of the second Reman civil war.

“...no, I’m afraid not…” Alexandra admitted.

“Oh. How unfortunate. Have you simply been wasting away here for all this time?” Agrippina asked.

“...yes…” Alexandra leaked out.

“I see. In that case how do you feel about being relocated to Kleinkastelburg? I’m trying to… make the powers that be in that region more… sympathetic to the empire and our goals. I think that you could be useful there…” Agrippina explained as she looked her sister in the eye.

“I don’t understand what you mean…” Alexandra began, only for Agrippina to cut her off.

“‘Useful’, Alexandra. It means to be serviceable for an end or purpose. I know the word is rather foreign to your day-to-day life, but I assumed all the time you wasted reading would help you understand it,” Agrippina hissed.

“I…” Alexandra began, only to be cut off by Agrippina once again.

“Now, allow me to explain: I’m trying really hard to expand my - I mean our influence in Kleinkastelburg and its surrounding area, and I’ve found an excellent opportunity to do so. Last month I had the… pleasure of meeting a Cimbristani baron, a middle-aged widower with a fief near the Confederation. We don’t have any family members in the Cimbristani royal court, so our knowledge of what happens there is rather limited. I reasoned that introducing you to him would help us gain the man’s favor,” Agrippina explained.

“A middle-aged baron?” Alexandra responded. She spoke gingerly, as though she was trapped in a cage with a large carnivorous animal. “I don’t feel comfortable marrying a man that much older than me, especially one that I don’t even know. Also wouldn’t it be bad for our family’s reputation in the long term if a member of the royalty married a baron? I don’t know…” Alexandra said before getting cut off.

“You don’t know anything, because you’re a spoiled brat! I wasn’t talking about marriage, we just need for someone to be that fossilized degenerate’s plaything. He prefers his partners to be more on the… prepubescent side, so I think that a flat-chested little gremlin such as yourself would be perfect for the job,” Agrippina explained. As soon as Alexandra realized what her sister was saying a burning feeling emerged within the bottom of her throat. She had to fight the urge to vomit what little food she had just eaten. By some small miracle, Alexandra was able to keep herself from throwing up, but not without the unpleasant and acidic taste of her own vomit falling upon her tongue first. As the young woman processed what her sister had just said she went through multiple waves of denial, fear, anger, disgust, and hopelessness. She wanted to ask Agrippina if what she had just said was a joke, but she found herself unable to string together a coherent sentence.

“I plan to run this by father soon. I’m rather confident that he will agree with me completely, considering our current lack of influence in Cimbristan1 and the fact that gaining access to the baron will be helpful if the grand duke of Zollernia-Hohenia2 decides to start trouble in the Confederation. Alexander will probably attempt to stop this, but this time, unlike the incident with von Steinmann, this will help the empire expand its influence,” Agrippina explained. Finally Alexandra was able to speak up.

“Agrippina, the way you are describing this man, I don’t think I want anything to do with him, especially in… in that capacity...” She said. As she spoke she felt her body go numb. She felt as though a bottomless hole had grown in the pit of her stomach and part of her had fallen in.

“I don’t really care what you think about this,” Agrippina said with a wide grin on her face, “I only came here to tell you this, because I’m bored and I thought it would be funny,” She then started giggling before breaking out into a long and intense laugh. Eventually her laughter died down. She then began to speak again.

“You should be grateful that I’m giving you a chance to actually help father for once. It’s the least you could do after getting his wife killed,” Agrippina said, careful not to leave any wound unsalted or knife untwisted. Upon hearing this, Alexandra’s face began to redden.

“I didn’t…” Alexandra began, only to get cut off by her sister.

“Oh not this again. I don’t need to be a medical genius like Rasmussen to know that mother would still be alive if she didn’t have to queef out the disgusting after-birth that grew up to be you,” Agrippina said as she glared at Alexandra. It was at this point that Alexandra began to edge closer and closer to the brink of crying. Her sister made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that this was amusing to her.

“Anyways, all of this talking has left me parched. Do you have anything to drink here?” Agrippina asked.

“Yes... there is some wine over there…” Alexandra whimpered, hoping that her cooperation would retard the torrent of abuse her sister was raining down upon her.

“Excellent,” Agrippina responded before turning to Ekkehardt, who up until this point, had remained completely unmoving and emotionless; much like a statue.

“Get me some of that wine, boy!” Agrippina barked. At that moment something in Alexandra snapped. For some reason, all of the fear, disgust, and shame that had accumulated inside of her ignited into anger. Before Ekkehardt could fulfill her order Alexandra spoke up.

“He doesn’t take orders from you!” Alexandra snapped as she used what little strength she had to stand up and curl her right hand into a fist. Agrippina’s face remained expressionless.

“Excuse me?” She asked, sounding more confused than anything else.

“I… I said that he doesn’t take orders from you! If you want some wine then you’re going to have to either order Ludwig to do it or ask me!” Alexandra exclaimed. For a moment there was a tense silence in the room as the two sisters locked eyes. Then, all of the sudden, Agrippina broke into laughter.

“Oh my, this is absolutely hilarious…” She said as her laughter died down, “You and your brother have such a strange relationship with your guard dogs…”

“I don’t think it’s very kind or wise of you to refer to the people who keep us safe as ‘dogs’, Agrippina.”

“And I don’t think it’s very wise for you to be an angry little bitch, yet here we are. Now I swear to God, one of you little shits is going to get me my wine or else I’ll make sure that your guard dog is chopping wood in Nordfell by the end of the year. I’ve gotten rid of one of your pets before and I’m more than capable of doing it again,” Agrippina ordered. It was at this point Agrippina noticed that Ludwig, her bodyguard, had moved all the way to the table the wine bottle was on without drawing much attention to himself.

“I don’t remember giving you an order, Ludwig…” Agrippina warned. Ludwig immediately retreated away from the wine without any further instruction.

“I swear, Agrippina, if you call me a ‘bitch’ one more time I’ll…”

“You’ll do what? Call Alexander and his little sausage-stuffer of a guard dog? I bet you can’t even get to Alexander without assistance, you disgusting little cripple,” Agrippina retorted.

“That’s it! Get out of my tower!” Alexandra screamed as she pointed at her sister. Agrippina only laughed.

“Woah, I’m…” Agrippina began, only to be cut off by Alexandra.

“No! Shut up! Get out of my tower you vicious cunt!” Alexandra screamed.

“What did you just say?”

“I said to get out of my tower right now! I’m tired of your deranged bullshit and I want you out of my life, you evil whore!” Alexandra screamed. At that point everything began to move more quickly than Alexandra was capable of reacting to. Agrippina lunged at, grabbing her by the throat and pushing her onto a balcony. Ekkehardt reached for his sword, but felt the cold edge of Ludwig’s large two-handed sword against the side of his neck just as his hand was a mere hair’s width from his sword.

“Sorry, Ekkehardt…” Ludwig mumbled. Ekkehardt could do nothing, but watch the events that were about to unfold in front of him.

“What did you just call me?” Agrippina growled as she stared into her sister’s eyes.

“I… I called you an evil whore, because that’s... what you are…” Alexandra proclaimed, barely able to speak with her sister’s hand around her throat. Agrippina then pushed Alexandra up against the edge of the balcony with so much force that the wooden handrail, weakened from so many years of neglect, began to deform and snap. She then grabbed the collar of Alexandra’s dress with her left hand.

The next thing Alexandra knew, the vision in her right eye was blurry, and there was a throbbing pain on the right side of her face, and her body felt as though it was being suspended in space. When her vision returned to normal the first thing she saw was her left shoulder and the ground several dozen imperial paces below her. Alexandra would later be told that Agrippina had punched her three times. Immediately upon realizing that she was being dangled several stories above the ground Alexandra let out a meek whimper. As soon as Alexandra was able to regain her senses she turned her head forward so she could see the architect of her peril. Alexandra saw Agrippina standing on the balcony in front of her, holding the collar of her dress with her outstretched left hand as she looked at her victim with a cold fire in her eyes. Agrippina began to audibly breath through her mouth as her face contorted to display a disturbing expression of ferocity. Then, with her free hand, Agrippina reached for a small leather scabbard that was hidden under the sleeve of the arm she was using to hold Alexandra. From that scabbard she produced a small object that appeared to be a knife handle. She then pressed a button on this object, which caused a spring-loaded blade to swing out of its side and lock into a forward position, effectively transforming the object into a small knife. She then held the knife up against Alexandra’s throat, putting her in a perfect position to sever both of the young princess’s carotid arteries in one swift motion.

“You take that back. Take that back right fucking now!” Agrippina snarled. At this point Alexandra began to hyperventilate

“A… Agr…” Alexandra stammered out as she felt a warm fluid run down her leg.

“You have five seconds,” Agrippina growled.

“Agr… Agrippina, pluh…”

“Five!”

“Please don’t…”

“Four!”

Suddenly, a blade appeared out of nowhere from behind Agrippina and gently touched the side of her neck.

“That’s enough, Agrippina. Let her go,” A calm, but stern male voice said from behind her. Agrippina turned around to see her brother, Alexander von Adler, holding a sword to her neck. Behind him she saw Ekkehardt standing beside him and a stealthily disarmed Ludwig being guarded by Siegfried, who had also managed to tie Ludwig’s hands together with a length of rope. Upon seeing him a look of disgust filled Agrippina’s face.

“Oh, Alexander. What a pleasure seeing you today,” Agrippina said in a mocking tone.

“I’m not asking you, Agrippina. Let her go,” Alexander repeated. Agrippina stood there for a moment and thought about how literally she was going to interpret her brother’s order. Eventually, she made her decision.

“Fine,” She said as she tossed Alexandra back into the tower. She then pressed the blade of her spring-loaded knife back into its handle and returned it to the hidden scabbard on her wrist. The young girl collapsed into Ekkehardt’s body as tears and snot began to run down her face. She then wrapped her arms around Ekkehardt and squeezed him with what little force her body possessed. Ekkehardt hugged her back. As soon as Alexandra was safe, two additional soldiers entered the room and took over the guarding of Ludwig from Siegfried.

“What the hell were you doing?” Prince Alexander asked Agrippina. Agrippina rolled her eyes.

“Oh, it was just a little joke, my dear brother. Nothing to get worried about here,” The princess of Kleinkastelburg replied as she smiled a wide, toothy smile at her brother. She then turned to her sister. “Isn’t that right Alexandra?” She asked as she moved to pat Alexandra on the head. This, however, was made impossible due to Alexandra repositioning herself behind Ekkehardt.

“Don’t you dare put another finger on her!” Alexander snapped.

“Oh come on Alexander, it’s not like that little brat is going to live for much longer anyway, even…”

“That’s it!” Alexander shouted, cutting Agrippina off in the process, “Under the authority granted to me by Emperor Alexander von Adler the first of Ostermania, I order you to be detained in accordance with the treaty of Clerlême3!” Alexander decreed.

“What?” Agrippina spat back as a look of genuine confusion spread across her face. This feeling of confusion was shared by Ekkehardt, Ludwig, and Siegfried, though all of them remained silent. Alexandra was still far too shaken to have an opinion on Alexander’s words.

“Section three of the treaty of Clerlême (which both the empire and the principality of Kleinkastelburg are signatories to) forbids the molestation of any noble man or woman of a host country by a foreign emissary and permits the detention of the foreign emissary at the discretion of the host country. As acting head of state of the Ostermanian Empire, I order you, Agrippina von Adler of Kleinkastelburg, to be detained under the treaty of Clerlême!” Alexander shouted as he pointed his finger at Agrippina. He then turned to Siegfried.

“Siegfried, please relieve Agrippina of any of her weapons and escort her to the dungeon,” Alexander requested without a hint of emotion. Siegfried found the order quite worrying, but understood that Alexander was not in a state where questioning his orders would be productive. Thus, he moved closer to Agrippina.

“Alexander I swear, if you allow your pet faggot to lay a single finger…” Agrippina protested only to be cut off by Alexander.

“Siegfried, please acquaint Agrippina’s face with the back of your hand,” Alexander ordered. A loud slap echoed throughout the room as flesh connected with flesh. Agrippina maintained a defiant glare at her brother as the skin on the right side of her face reddened.

“I swear, I’ll make you regret this, Alexander,” Agrippina warned. Alexander dismissed her, and then ordered Siegfried to begin disarming and detaining her. Siegfried immediately removed Agrippina’s spring-loaded knife from her wrist scabbard before patting her down like a common criminal. He started from her shoulders and moved down, eventually finding a metallic object attached to her right leg. Agrippina sighed and lifted her dress to reveal a silver stiletto dagger housed in a leather garter scabbard.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Agrippina groaned. Siegfried quickly retrieved the blade and examined it. It had a long thin blade that ended in a needle-like point. The cross-guard consisted of two straight pieces of metal that sat in front of the handle, giving the weapon the shape of a lowercase ‘t’. The handle was bare metal, but the material was shaped in a way that was both aesthetically pleasing and very easy to grip. Although it was very faint, Siegfried could just barely detect the smell of belladonna flower extract.

‘Yeah, that feels like something she would do.’ Siegfried thought to himself before letting out a sigh. He then turned to the guards.

“Careful, it’s poisoned,” He warned as he held the dagger out to them. The guard nodded. He then handed the dagger to one of the two guards, who carefully slipped it into a space between his belt and the small of his back. Siegfried then concluded his search without finding any more weapons. Alexander then turned to the guards.

“Take both of them to the dungeon, but tell Kedvesh4 not to lay a finger on them. I forbid you from leaving their side until he understands this,” Alexander ordered, making sure that the second part of his command was understood as to not leave Ludwig and his sister at the mercy of the imperial torturer. The two guards then grabbed Agrippina and Ludwig and began to lead them away. Ludwig remained emotion-less while Agrippina began to explode.

“Alexander, I order you to get these apes off me!” Agrippina shrieked.

“You can’t give me orders,” Alexander replied calmly. Unfortunately, this did little to silence his sister’s protests.

“You can’t throw me in there like some piece of trash!” She screeched. At this point she had completely lost control of her composure. Her face had contorted into a disturbing grimace as her face began to redden. In an act of resistance she attempted to physically resist the guard escorting her, though the immense difference of strength between the two of them made this a rather futile act.

“I can, I should, and I just did,” Alexander responded, maintaining his calm demeanor.

“Father will know about this!”

“I don’t care,” Alexander said. Agrippina replied with a long incoherent screech as she struggled against the guard. Then a bright flash erupted from Agrippina’s medallion. A sickly-green figure emerged from the flash. Although it was only visible for a few seconds, Alexandra was able to make out some basic features of the entity: that it was incorporeal, translucent, and that it possessed a head, arms, and torso that resembled an emaciated old man. The lower half of its body was a sort of tail that resembled a plume of smoke. A few moments after appearing it attacked Alexander, flying towards his body, and disappearing into him. The young crown prince immediately fell onto the floor and began convulsing as his eyes rolled back in his head and a white foam emerged from his mouth.

“Your Highness!” Siegfried shouted as he immediately got on his knees and tried to restrain Alexander. Agrippina’s demeanor had completely changed. In a few short moments her rage had been completely replaced by terror.

“This isn’t what he said would happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen,” She muttered to herself as she stared at Alexander. The guards abandoned Agrippina and Ludwig to attend to Alexander. Ludwig (who still had his hands tied together) immediately bolted towards Agrippina.

“Hey! We have to leave now!” Ludwig barked at Agrippina, who was still in a state of shock.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” Agrippina muttered to herself. Unfortunately for Ludwig, his actions did not go unnoticed as the attention of Siegfried and the two guards shifted from Alexander to him.

“Hey, you stay right there!” One of the guards ordered.

“Goddammit…” Ludwig cursed. He then placed himself in between Agrippina and the two guards and raised his bound hands up as though he was prepared to fight with them. Siegfried and the guards rose up and drew their weapons. In all of this confusion nobody noticed that Alexander had stopped convulsing. Nobody in the room noticed as he (while still in a supine position) curled his legs up towards his shoulders and positioned his hands on the floor above his head with his palms on the ground. Slowly he shifted his weight towards his upper body until the small of his back was suspended above the ground. Then in one swift motion he rocked his body forward, propelling himself onto his feet right behind Siegfried and the guards. Before anyone could react he snatched Agrippina’s stiletto dagger from one of the guards and, while holding the weapon in an ice pick style, plunged into the man’s neck. The guard tried to call out his partner’s name, but all that came out of his mouth was the syllable ‘vuh’. Siegfried and the remaining guard watched in horror as their comrade fell to the ground. Behind the corpse they saw Prince Alexander with Agrippina’s stiletto dagger in his hand. Both the dagger and the hand holding it were covered in blood. Alexander’s face was calm and expressionless and his eyes were closed. A nightmare had just begun.