Chapter 4: Princess Ava The Cruel

“Stop!" Kaila said, and his guard turned back again.

"We can't act rashly. There should be a strategic way to do this. The king would not take it lightly if he finds out I killed her," Kaila said.

"Your Grace, your father is waiting at the chamber for you at this moment," one of her attendants rushed towards her at once.

Kaila immediately headed to her quarters. Upon arriving, her father, who was a member of the king's council, sat waiting for her.

"Father?" Kaila asked. She could see her father was here to scold her as disappointment and anger were apparent in his expression.

"What have you been doing to get rid of that wretched princess?" he growled.

"Father, I assure you, the king loathes her with passion, and she cannot undermine my positi—"

"You bitch! Do you even realize what's going on in the king's council? Half of the council supports the idea that the king should claim her since she is his true mate and the last pureblood of the Lycan! Soon enough, you will be deserted, and your position won't even be presumed. You'd only end up as his common bed warmer!" he yelled in Kaila's face.

Kaila's hands became numb, her heart thudding and her eyes blazing.

"What should I do, father?" Kaila asked in a tear-choked voice.

"Prove to the king and the whole council that she is a monster like her father, the mad king!" he said.

"But how?" Kaila asked, and her father was mute for a second. He threw her an expression that was hard to dissect.

"A sacrifice from your side to seal your position, a sacrifice that would make the king execute the princess himself," he said.

As Kaila's heart dropped, her eyes squinted.

"You don't mean I should... I should kill my daughter and blame it on the princess?" Kaila said, her voice breaking as her legs weakened.

That was the only ultimatum to prove Ava was a monster, just like her father—setting her up for the murder of who the king cherished the most.

"Of course. Alys is just a girl, and there has never been an heiress who ruled our kingdom. If the princess becomes queen and gives birth to a male child, her son would become the heir, strengthening her power, and all you would do is grovel at her feet for mercy!" he said.

"Father! How can I do that to my own daughter?" Kaila cried.

"This is a palace game. The one who strikes early wins. A great sacrifice for a greater reward. I want the princess's execution trial at the council table early tomorrow. I leave the rest to you," her father said and walked out.

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"I'd serve you now, Princess," a voice said as Ava's door creaked open. Ava sat in her dark, boring room, her face soaked with tears. She quickly wiped them away before the attendant approached her.

"Does the king need me now?" Ava asked as her heart skipped a beat. They always came by her room to glam her up for the king's bed, where she was to be damaged and punished.

"No, princess, the king did not call for you. I am your new attendant," she said as she walked towards Ava. "Can you sit before the dresser?"

She asked. Ava thought not much of it, as she followed everything they told her to do here. She sat gently as the maid came behind her and started to brush down her rare long, silky silver hair.

Suddenly, the brush snagged in her hair, and the maid harshly yanked it out, ripping strands of silver hair from Ava's scalp.

Ava yelped in pain, her hand instinctively flying to her head.

"I'm sorry, princess. Your hair had tangles," the maid apologized quickly. Ava's brows squinted; she knew her hair better than anyone—it was always naturally silky and never tangled.

"I'll be more careful now," the maid said as she immediately removed the strands of Ava's hair from the brush. She swiftly hid the stolen strands in a small container tucked inside the grooming kit box, her movements furtive and desperate.

˙⁠❥⁠˙

Kaila held tightly to Ava's hair strands as she watched her beautiful daughter, Alys, sleep soundly on her bed. How could she kill her own daughter? Tears welled in her eyes.

Alys's female attendant wondered why Kaila was crying. "Are you okay, Your Grace?" she asked, as Alys was soundly asleep.

"Did you give her the tea already?" Kaila inquired, and the maid nodded, clueless as to what the tea contained. Kaila's face welled more with tears—at least her beautiful daughter would die painlessly.

"Should I give her the stab scar now?" Kaila's guard asked.

"I'll do it myself," Kaila replied.

"What? What do you mean?" Alys's attendant questioned as she watched Kaila commit the most horrific sin against her own daughter.

The attendant fell on her butt, unable to believe what her eyes had just witnessed. Frozen to the spot, she couldn't move or let out a sound. Kaila's bodyguard suddenly approached and stabbed the attendant's stomach repeatedly as she struggled and then gave up.

A chilly, unholy silence filled the room. Kaila immediately slipped Ava's stolen silver hair into the hand of Alys's maid, creating the illusion that the maid had struggled with Ava while trying to protect little Alys from being killed, and in the process had yanked out Ava's silver hair strands.

"Let's go," Kaila commanded as they left the corridor. No guards witnessed their movement, as it was past the time for guards to be present in the royal family corridors and quarters. The external security forces were focused on potential threats outside.

Believing the interior to be secure, this lapse left little Alys's chamber vulnerable, allowing Kaila and her bodyguard to move unseen.

˙⁠❥⁠˙

"Take the murderer out! Babe slayer!"

Ava heard the noise in her sleep and jerked awake. It was morning, and her door suddenly banged open. Four guards marched into her room and grabbed her from the bed so harshly that she fell to the ground.

"What is it? What have I done?" Ava screamed at the top of her voice.