3 Heartless

Happiness...

Sadness...

Hate...

Love...

What were they? I will never know. They forbid me to feel any kind of sentiment because this will lead me to my self-destruction.

Emotions were venomous to the heart and mind. I should never have them for they will lead me to an insurmountable pain that would taint the pureness instilled in me at birth.

I was the purest among my kind and it must stay that way. My mere purpose was to exist, nothing more and nothing less. Questioning such would only lead to my punishment bestowed by the law of my kind and the law of which I represent— the law of the Ochi sto de Scarlet Austarch (No to the Scarlet Autocrat).

It was a law passed on by the Higher-Order of Ancients who survived from the tyranny of The Scarlet Emperor— a ruler almost considered as the perfect sovereign but became a slave to his emotions when he fell in love with a Cysgod (Shadow) Knight.

I ran my gloved fingers against the wooden wall of the hallway as I sauntered towards the dining area. My fingers dipped into the crevices of the intricate swirls of the ivory wall. My feet took gentle steps on the ebony carpet. I made sure that my feet made no sound as I trudged because even the slightest and gentlest sound could be a source of entertainment.

My father and mother were already seated in their places with my father sitting at the end of the overly lengthy stygian table and with my mother sitting perpendicular to him.

The servant pulled the chair for me at the far end of the table, opposite to my father, and I bowed before them before taking my seat.

"How was your day Lucian?" Father asked me sternly.

I kept my gaze lowered to the empty space on the table and kept my hearing alert for their inquiries.

"Good father."

"Do you feel ill?" It was my mother's turn to give out questions necessary to show parental responsibility.

The tone of their voices had no hint of compassion or affection of a parent which was suited for this conversation and for my benefit.

"No, I feel nothing, as it should be."

More servants arrived in their black uniforms and placed a bowl filled with bread in front of me and a glass of water. They were careful not to touch me for doing such was punishable by the law.

I took a bite of the bland bread. We ate in total silence. No further conversations were exchanged among us and not even the servants dared to utter a noise unless their services were requested by my father or mother.

I slowly drank my water after I finished everything in front of me. I bowed at them before returning to my resting chambers.

My chamber was located on the left-wing of the castrum. Only a few of the personnel were allowed inside, specifically the chosen servants and the ippótes.

I walked to my white semi-soft lectus (bed) and sat firmly at the edge. My eyes then focused on my lap and then on my window. The view was blocked by vines purposely raised there to hinder any possible entertainment or distraction that could elicit emotion from me.

As far as I can remember, for the last eighteen blue moons, this had been my quotidian life. It was unchanging, ascetic, and monotonous just as what I had expected.

I lied down on my lectus and shut my eyes. I circled the castrum earlier to waste time but made sure not to push myself to exhaustion.

As I attempted to catch some sleep, I heard my door creak open. The bed sank from the weight of the intruder and someone's hand dared to be placed on my forehead. A shaky breath was released. The hand caressed my head in a manner that was forbidden by the law.

"Oh, Lucian...my musuko (son)..." she whispered. "Te iubesc (I love you)..."

She had always been a law-breaker. She was the type to let her emotions get the best of her and this was one of those occasions. She should face the consequences but it was not too late to save her from the poison that lived through her rotting form.

There was still time.

I opened my eyes and turned my head to face her. She was startled and looked ashamed from her actions. I merely bore my eyes at her.

"You are tainting my purity mother. What are you doing here?"

She opened and closed her mouth in obvious edginess. Her blonde hair cascaded down to her waist and framed her small face. Her clemency, though opposed by the law that I was under, was still considered a treasure to the Kingdom and to the many who had not deposited themselves under the grasp of the Higher-Order.

The law shall be applied only to those willing and those who dip their hands in blood for the kingdom. The Higher-Order was still fighting for its equal application but the late King Genshi did not allow its mandatory utilization.

"I..." she trailed off, lost on what to say.

She seemed to be holding so many emotions inside of her that it was obvious that she was being destroyed by it. She should have undergone the training with me. This kingdom did not need a fragile queen.

"You should not be here. Please manage your motherly instincts. You are endangering my life and you are violating my rights."

She closed her mouth and pursed her lips in an attempt to conceal her shameful acts but was failing miserably.

"Of course... omlouvám se (I'm sorry)..."

She rose up and left with her head lowered. She closed my door, lightly releasing an audible click, and her footsteps became louder as she evidently departed in an upset sprint.

The night passed and I awakened to perform my daily routine of grooming. After bathing and cleaning my teeth, I suited myself up in an ebony blouse with puffy long sleeves. I slipped into the same shade of fitted pants and my ivory high boots.

A servant knocked on my door to inform me that breakfast was prepared and I thanked her flatly. The same bread was served. While I consumed it in small bites, I noticed that my mother did not have any appetite. She played with her food. Her emotions must be eating away her manners.

"Okaa? Otou?" A deep and baritone voice resonated from a near distance. Both of my parents dropped their silverware. Mother stood up, causing the chair to fall back down to the floor. She ran towards the source of the voice.

"Lucius!" she yelled out in joy.

"Okaa!" the male replied blissfully.

Father followed suit. I was left alone to continue with my meal.

Three bodies emerged from the tall and wide arched threshold. My parents surfaced with the person they gleefully welcomed. A blonde-haired male who was taller and more built than father frantically looked around. Once he spotted me, his already wide smile grew more in width and if possible, his lively aura became livelier.

"Chii!" he addressed, charging up to me with wide arms.

"Lucius, wait!" Mother panicked.

The man named Lucius brusquely and unlawfully picked me up from my spot and lifted me up into the air.

"You have grown chii!" he commented.

Who was this lawbreaker and why was he even allowed in here?

"Guards," I called out blankly to the ippótes who didn't know whether to intervene or just stand there and embrace the rock life.

The man before me laughed and stared at me with much adoration.

"I do not know you and if you don't put me down now, an acquaintance of the royal family or not, you shall be rightfully punished," I threatened.

This was the first offense and for the king and queen to let this happen to the prince they deposited willingly under the law, this was alarming indeed.

The pain was visibly seen in his eyes. He gently placed me back on my feet.

"Who are you if you don't mind me asking?" I need to know what name I was going to put in my report.

Lucius placed his hands on my shoulders, smiling sadly. This was the second offense. I would now need to ask the servants for a pen and paper next time to write my letter of report.

I gave one of his hands a look of disapproval and swatted it off of me.

"I don't blame you for forgetting me. I have been gone for so long but still...ouch!" he jokingly laughed.

"I am not amused. Do not touch me. Do not even get a foot closer to me the next time. I do not know you and I will never bother to know a criminal."

Lucius looked shocked by my blunt statement, nonetheless, he didn't wipe the smile off his face.

"Woah, you turned out to be a grumpy young man. No need to be cold to your own older brother Lucian." His tone lowered and his enthusiasm died.

I scowled. "I do not have a brother—"

"Yes you do!" he cut me off, clearly offended before I could even finish.

I will make sure to add Disrespect to the Monarchy to his list of offenses.

Lucius' expression showed great distress. Once he had touched my face that was the last straw for me.

I slapped his hand away with the back of mine causing his eyes to widen.

"De Scarlet Austarch lebt timi bhitra..."

Upon hearing my words, Lucius' mouth hung open and his face slowly distorted into that of shock and disbelief. He took a step back. His eyes watered. He took a sharp turn to my parents and glared at them with seething rage.

"You put Lucian in that training didn't you?!"

The king and queen stared at each other. Mother took the courage to speak. "We have no other choice, Lucius. We must protect him from—"

"Rahat! (Bullshit!)" He cut her off. "You aren't doing this for him, you're just being selfish! How can you stand seeing him like this? What have you done to him?!"

So many emotions leeching off of him...

"They are helping preserve my saintliness, would you care to help?" I didn't want to save a criminal but the Higher-Order was looking for more recruitment.

"No, you shouldn't be like that, Lucian! You are not supposed to be a heartless being!"

"Being heartless saves you from... what you are right now. Do not fret, you still have a chance to change. Would you like to undergo training?"

The man visibly gritted his teeth.

"You cannot blame us for wanting him to be safe, Lucius," father told him calmly.

I sat back down. I continued eating my bread even if there was an obvious rope of tension connecting the three of them

"You...made him into an empty shell. This isn't protecting," he argued back, causing father to sigh.

"Lucian, go to your room," the king ordered.

"As you wish father."

I ignored Lucius's desperate calls and headed straight to my chamber. The silence healed my ringing ears from the entire ruckus that that man had caused. Father should know what to do with him. I will see to it that everything will go smoothly with the jail documents.

I lay down on my bed, staring at my blocked window. Just as when I was finally regaining control of tranquility, the door opened revealing the offender.

This was getting out of hand

My father was a useless ruler.

"You should not be here."

"I know...just lend me your time," he assured with a smile.

He sat at the edge of the bed and I scooted far away from him to show my disapproval of him being in here. Where were the ippótes making rounds?

"Thank you for the generous space," he chuckled and lied down.

He quickly wrapped his arms around me, making me squirm in alarm.

"Let go of me, you are not allowed to touch me, you are destroying my purity!" I shouted at him.

This was the first time that someone had invaded my personal space multiple times a day. How could someone be so persistent in disobedience?

I must push him away. I must get rid of him! He will take away my life. He will ruin everything I worked hard for!

His arms tightened around me and the strangulation of being forced into such a position ceased my breathing.

"Let go, I say!" I wheezed out.

"I will not. Please calm yourself," he gently said, reassuring that he had harmless intentions in which I do not believe even if my own mother was at stake.

"I am calm. Why are you here?" My tone was slightly higher than usual.

What?

I froze in place when I felt him place a kiss on my forehead.

"Because onii misses his chii," he whispered.

I snapped out from my stupefaction and narrowed my gaze at him.

"I do not know you," I deadpanned.

"Yes you do, they just erased your memories of me," he pushed on, being a lot calmer this time compared to the first time he arrived.

"Relinquo (Leave)," I ordered. "Your visit here is meaningless."

"You're meaningful to me. Stop pushing me away," he slammed back.

"Stop being in my way," I retorted. I continued with my struggle within his steel grip.

"Lucian, this is getting childish. Look at me," he demanded.

"I refuse."

His fingers pushed my chin up. I tried to resist the force and back away, however, his arm that was guarding my back prevented me from making a distance.

He placed a heavy leg to trap my own two legs and pushed my body further to his own, crushing me in his embrace. I gave up, letting him lift my chin only for him to meet closed eyes.

"Otrolig… (Unbelievable…)" he groaned.

For a few seconds, the criminal became silent. He leaned his forehead against mine before sighing in resignation.

"If only I came home sooner...this wouldn't have happened. They must have deprived you of love and affection..."

They did the right thing. They made the right choice.

"It must be done." If they showed such weakness to me, I would be fragile.

"It shouldn't have been done!" he protested and a wave of silence followed thereafter.

Lucius' tense form relaxed moments later while I was devising plans on how to speed up the process of putting him behind bars for one-hundred blue moons. I will also make sure that the ippótes assigned in this wing shall meet consequences for not being on time to arrest this man.

"Have you tasted cocoa seeds?"

"No and never, taste buds retrieve emotions. I advise you to stop piling more offenses to your list but for the sake of speeding up the process of you being tossed to jail, please, go on," I deadpanned.

A second later, I felt something soft pressing against my lips. I had to purse my lips to prevent whatever it was that he was forcing in. Lucius poked my side and my body reacted negatively. The small and soft seed was pushed inside. He shut my jaw and covered my lips with his hand.

"Chew it or I will never leave you alone," he threatened. I was left with no choice but to obey against my will.

You shall pay for this farbrekher (criminal).

I grasped his arm, chewing sluggishly. My strength was already drained from dealing with him.

The soft seed ruptured. Something thick and rich coated my mouth. My eyes opened in wonderment. I met his blue eyes that were darker than my own. He let go of my lips and the taste stayed in my tongue as it dried up and thirst spread across my mouth.

"What is it?" I questioned.

It tasted better than the bread I eat every day.

I will have to confess my crimes to the Higher-Order once this man was out of the way. The punishment will be lesser in my condition because I was forced.

"It's chocolate, what you tasted is sweet," he explained.

"I shouldn't have tasted that. It will–"

"Hiberent! (Stop!) They have lied to you. Emotions show the beauty of life. If you lock them away, you learn nothing."

He raised my face, forcing me to look at his eyes that pinned my attention in place.

"You are beautiful Lucian but you are nothing but a monster inside. I will train you on how to use your heart. You will come with me the next time I go out."

I gave him a defiant expression. I was trained to show expressions of disapproval when it came to unreasonable simpletons.

He pulled my body up with him and went to my closet. Did he really believe I'll come with him? What made him think that the kingdom will allow him to take me?

"Your clothes are all black and white," he commented. He was rummaging through my wardrobe.

"It must be done"

His head popped out from the hanging clothes. He pointed his finger at me with a displeased face.

"No, it shouldn't. When you were a child your clothes were colorful. What happened?"

I was enlightened.

"I grew up and...It must be—"

"That's it, we leave tonight!" He cut me off out of frustration.

He grabbed a bag and began to stuff my clothes inside. I watched him blankly. He was too raucous. If I was sensitive like my mother, I could have whacked this man's head.

Once the dullard was finally done packing my things up, I took the chance to speak.

"I refuse to come. Please return my clothes to where they belong. I will add Invasion of territory and Damage to the property into the list of your offenses. Aren't you wealthy with years in jail?"

"Otrod'ye…(Brat...)" he hissed.