text: -Year 19-
  
  One year has passed since Sophia Nevermore's life had changed forever. Gone were the days in which she spent a great deal of time in her room, allowing the day to pass her by listlessly, only retreating from the safety of her room for a rare ball or party. It was on days like that she was able to spend moments with the man responsible for the cushiness that was her life in her father. However, the attention of her father wasn't the only thing that brought her some semblance of happiness. It was the days in which she could spend time with her older brother Noel, and her older sister as well, Penelope. Unfortunately, they both became quite busy with the new positions that father had felt fitting of granting them, and thus their appearances had become something of a rare sight for her to be able to behold.
  
  Now, things were so different. And she was still a princess in title, but she now had her own responsibilities. Sophia now had a routine that she followed for every morning: wake up early, bathe, eat breakfast, and then go about the managing of her own little territory. Of course she wasn't alone in this, Juliette her faithful attendant was still very much a constant presence at her side.
  
  And regarding Juliette Forthwight, a new more appropriate title would really have to be given to her eventually.
  
  Unfortunately, matters such as those were on the back-burner. The reason being? The situation they were in was a rather precarious one, and there had reported sightings of strange creatures roaming the night outside the edges of her territory. Citizens, and even the men that had presently taken up arms under her banner have been found killed in grotesque and near unexplainable ways. This was all becoming a constant headache for the princess, and she felt herself reaching for a phantom cup of coffee that wasn't there.
  
  "Here, your highness." Juliette had appeared at her side, almost as if she was a mind reader, placing a cup of freshly brewed coffee on her desk. The woman was the very picture of poise, as she stood by the princess's side. It was only a hear that had passed, yet Sophia thought that the other young woman was growing into quite a beautiful lady.
  
  "I'm surprised you're not hanging around with the knights, providing them all--especially Paul--with your own amazing coffee." Sophia teased as she took a small sip of the coffee, enjoying the taste and how it awoke her senses.
  
  Juliette for her part could only look scandalized by the implication that wasn't lost on her.
  
  "Your highness! I only linger around the man so that he wouldn't suddenly collapse." She then pouted, wiping her hands off on the dark navy colored skirt that she was wearing. "He's a bit older than the both of us, but hear this! Can you believe that he's only thirty! From his temperament, I thought he would be a bit older, no?"
  
  Sophia could only blink, her look of astonishment bringing a gentle laugh to spill out from Juliette's lips.
  
  "I-I wouldn't have known that, in all honesty."
  
  With that, the two enjoyed a comfortable silence. That was until they were brought out of that comfortable silence by an urgent knocking coming from outside the closed room they were in.
  
  "Come in," Sophia states, exchanging glances with her attendant.
  
  It's not a long wait before the door is opened, revealing a young solider who looks anything but calm. From the look of his posture, he would rather be elsewhere than being the bearer of the news he was about to relay.
  
  "Your highness, please excuse me, but this is something that should be brought to your attention."
  
  "Okay, and what is it?" Sophia questions him.
  
  "It's the vice-captain, Roy. He's trying to convince any soldier that will listen to him that we should ride off quickly and find out the source of what's been maiming some of the townfolk, and some of our fellow men."
  
  Sophia hummed out-loud, Juliette could only sigh.
  
  "Perhaps, I should take to him? I think that I'll be able to convince him otherwis--"
  
  "No. That won't do. I'll handle it."
  
  Sophia rose from her seat, and began moving towards the door. Her attendant followed behind her silently, and the solider jumped out of her way to give her more than adequate space before falling in line behind her back as well.
  
  Their destination would of course have to be the barracks. That would be where most of their forces are after all.
  
  Roy. He was previously a mage in the service of Sophia's recently departed sisters. However, he was under their care far longer than even before the king had met his end by one (or more) of his own kin. He was inexperienced, but believed that his strength could turn the tide of any battle. Effectively losing and being captured, staying a week in the dingy cells of the castle did surprisingly little to humble him, but it did humble him slightly.
  
  But obviously still not enough to stop him from still trying to undermine Sophia Nevermore.
  
  She figured that he still had some lingering resentment for her killing the two of those twins. Maybe such a thing was the case because he either loved one or them, Ceciline or Aline, or the both of them.
  
  Sophia couldn't be bothered to care which it was, but cared more for the risk of life that he would do. It wasn't just his own life that he was potentially putting to danger, but some of the men which she had knighted on her word. Such a thing, the young women couldn't stand for. And not wholly out of any moral sense, but because of the fact that they've barely had any men to spare for a currently invisible foe that already showed feats of being able to kill some of them.
  
  No, this would have to be nipped in the bud immediately.
  
  Still, what was the correct choice of action to be making? Maybe Roy had a point, that they were sitting on their hands and knees without much outside of the castle that they've now had to show for it. Maybe it was indeed time for them to unmask this foe of theirs. However, if she allowed this disrespect to continue, would the tentative respect of her men that she had garnered throughout the year be shattered?
  
  Or maybe this entire situation was a headache that wasn't no longer worth it? Sophia had certainly showed her other siblings that she was no mere sheltered princess no longer, and that she was willing to fight back to continue breathing. Maybe she could just grab her bags, and leave with Juliette?
  
  Decisions.
  
  > Don't risk it
  Sophia stops at the entryway of the barracks, lingering for a moment before the self doubt begins to cloud any further steps from her. What did she honestly know about tactics? Even the battle many months prior was a desperate one that was barely won. Things were at best, very tentative. Would it be smart to potentially drive away a new ally?
  
  This inactivity, it ate at her being too. She didn't enjoy seeing innocent lives which had nothing to do with the conflict, being snuffed out by whichever foes they've had that chose to remain hidden.
  
  "Your highness?" The solider questions the young woman, who only begins walking back the way in which she came.
  
  "If Roy's able to find and bring to justice whoever is responsible for all of these deaths, then I would be happy as well." Sophia stopped at the long stairs that led up to her study. "Feel free to support him as best you can if you wish to do so."
  
  With those words, the princess of the castle retreated out of sight.
  
  --x
  
  The bodies never do stop piling up
  
  Many call into question their "leader's" ability to actually lead.
  
  Civilians and knights alike are found dead every morning.
  
  Soon the people begin to act quite strange, a farmer killing a tailor.
  
  A single solider going mad and attacking what is supposed to be his fellow comrade. Two soldiers suddenly going mad, and then a third. It soon becomes bad enough that the princess locks herself in her room, never to leave.
  
  Roy, the young hotheaded mage never does return.
  
  The princess however meets her demise as the hands of her trusted attendant.
  
  The attendant seems almost giddy as she stabs the princess, burying the knife deeply into the woman's gut, who weakened from hunger doesn't do much besides die quite pathetically.
  
  Some would say it's a fitting end for a foolish princess, but what say you on that matter?