Princess and Jester #1

In an island within the New World was an incompetent king who ascended to the throne after defeating his older brother, the crown price in the fight for the throne.

After his brothers death by poison, the country was in upheaval and the incompetent king was unable to control the plummeting country.

The nobles were always vying for power among each other and neglecting their tasks and responsibilities.

The common people began to experience a large shift in their lifestyle over the years as the nobles fought amongst themselves, more people went hungry and many deaths followed but this was all neglected.

Two daughters were born from the king and his one wife was the daughter of one of the main noble families that had the most influence and a maid that the king favoured and loved deeply.

He showed too much favouritism towards the maid and her daughter which resulted in framing plots and many political attacks upon her resulting in her death and the exile of the kings daughter.

The other daughter was raised to be the queen of the country and the successor but the king only have her indifference and denied her rights as his successor one time after another.

After the maid was executed and the daughter exiled he had went into depression and mostly hid himself away in his room and neglected his duties further.

He was falling apart and so was the country that he ruled, the nobles had a difficult time dealing with his tantrums and outbursts of anger resulting in many inflicted wounds from thrown items.

Even the most loyal people to him and those that wished for the betterment of the country had to suffer this treatment and put their hopes in the next successor but they still had to deal with the current king who was behaving like a spoiled child.

All they could do was come up with a way to deal with the king and keep his mood stable or at least find someone else to vent on.

They began to hire expendable middlemen like assistants and maids from commoner backgrounds that could pass on their messages and the duties that he must perform.

These attempts were unsuccessful and resulted in many injured or dead bodies leaving the palace, it only resulted in further angering the king further and making him more violent.

The promises of wealth beyond their reach, access to the public library and to never go hungry drove many people to apply for a position to placate the king until the next heir was old enough to inherit the throne.

Among the people a small orphan boy qt the age of seven was on the list of candidates that applied, he applied for the place as a court jester who would entertain the nobles and the king during various events and in private.

He slowly got used to his role as he was quick to read the room and make the most appropriate jokes to entertain the nobles.

Upon seeing his popularity, the head secretary dragged him to the kings room to entertain him and bring his mood up.

Hopefully once his mood improved, the secretary could bring up many pressing issues that need to be handled immediately.

The boy began to smile and answered the kings rude remarks and questions politely expressing his respect for the king wholeheartedly and began to ready himself for his performance.

The king did not seem too friendly to him and threw several throwing knives at the boys feet telling him to juggle them.

The boy instantly knew that if he refused or displayed any dissatisfaction then he would be punished or killed by the king.

From that day the boy wore a big smile on his face which hardly ever changed, never showing his true side or showing the sadness, happiness or other emotions that he was feeling deep inside.

He came up with five rules or a way of life in which he could survive among the complex power structures of the nobles and the kings changes of mood.

Rule one was 'do not take anything seriously', no matter how painful life may be, continue to smile and let the pain and everything wash over himself.

Rule two was 'do not be afraid to joke', so long as others are laughing he is still useful to them.

Rule three was 'do not stop with the riddles, even become one yourself', that way they will never truly know his heart and be able to grasp at a weakness.

Rule four was 'do not try to be anything more than a jester', it is better to know ones place and role and not reach for anything beyond that.

Rule five was 'offer loyalty but not your heart', do not get emotionally attached to those he is tasked to entertain as power structures and alliances are fickle and many things can change in a short time, as a jester he has no power or influence that could help such people even if he grew fond of them.

Later the boy grew up to watch the daughter of the king grow into a fine heir and a good person although a little cold on the outside.

The daughter was the only person among the many people who saw him as a human being among those many people, in others eyes he was nothing but a useful tool to provide jokes and entertainment.

He had a couple of encounters with her and he found himself breaking the fifth rule later as he couldn't help but develop a crush on her as he witnessed her hardworking nature but also her struggles as she tried to gain her fathers acknowledgement… even if she was a princess, even if she would never see him in that way and even if there was two years of an age gap between them, he could not help but slowly fall for her hopelessly and break one of his rules to survive.

In private when he was around the princess, he would begin to show his most genuine emotions around her and the walls that he had built up around him were broken down with time.

During the time that he had turned around fifteen years old, the country was turned upside down by the kings announcement after he had managed to regain some of his political control and had developed his own forces in secret after playing the fool for so long.

His first decree was to bring back his daughter to be a candidate for the throne upon reaching the age of eighteen which would be in one year.

Of course the daughter was distraught and began to resort to desperate attempts to control her father whether it be planting women by his side that resembled the woman he once loved or getting assistance from the palace maids and the nobles to ignore the other princess.

The jester got pulled into the various schemes eventually by the princess to help her secure her position on the throne but his power was limited.

In the many years, he had gained a lot of strength and reflexes by watching how the royal guards of the country train and practicing in his free time but there was also the various dangerous games that the king liked to play that had helped him gain the ability to sense things around himself better which allowed him to avoid things flying towards himself better.

Whether it was avoiding the falling daggers he failed to catch as he was juggling them or trying to avoid at least a fatal injury during his youth or avoiding items or knives thrown at him by the king, he gradually unlocked this ability after experiencing many dangerous situations and high pressure.

Unfortunately there was a loophole in the royal line that could be exploited by the king to make his other daughter the heir.

Royals do not need to go to war and are not expected to but if it is required then like previous royal descendants, they experiences what war was like and came back with large achievements proving themselves most suitable for the throne.

The king made his decision stating that his other daughter is his true heir and his decision would be hard to change, the only way to change his mind would be for his daughter to prove that she can truly fix the country without his help.

She drummed up support from some nobles that year and requested aid to rally many warriors to cleanup the gangs, revolutionary groups and other problematic groups in the country and made a large impact but the king was not satisfied.

He told his daughter that a true monarch would not be satisfied with cleaning up a few bugs and she should look much farther and wider than the country itself otherwise she would never last in her position for that long and the country would fall into ruin sooner or later.

He gave her almost impossible tasks and sent her to complete them one after another and the jester had been brought into it after much hesitation.

He practically became the main person to lead the charge and complete the task when the princess was required to accomplish a large feat with the assistance of the forces of the various families supporting the princess but as time passed the support began to dwindle as they grew dissatisfied at how desperate and naive the princess had become.

Even now, the daughter of a maid was living as a princess while the true princess had been stained with the blood of countless people.

Public rumours and views quickly shifted and she became known as the cruel and bloodthirsty princess while the other was the sweet and kindhearted princess.

The struggle continued until the battles took to the seas around the island to deal with the countries enemies and invading pirates and human traffickers.

Upon reaching the age of seventeen he had grown up well and was strong enough to handle many people with his knives whether it be throwing them or agilely assassinating his enemies while avoiding attacks.

He and the princess had become the leading figures in the war and had gained many followers, if this continued then the princess could come back and strengthen her position and turn things around is what he truly believed.

The bloody princess and the royal jester were becoming popular figures in the country no matter how much bad publicity was spread by others and how their names were dragged through the mud.

Nobody could deny that their efforts had provided more stability and safety within the country.

However later in the year a change took place within the war as many unknown ships began to participate and joined hands with her enemies to set a trap.

Many ally ships were wiped put and they were closing in on her and the jester.

The jester and the princess shared one final drink together and the princess finally revealed many things.

The princess had become a beautiful woman who had just recently turned twenty years old but she wore a lightly armoured knights uniform and had a scar near her eye that went down her cheek a little which had reduced her overall beauty and elegance that she had previously been known for.

However the jester still looked towards her with the same fondness as he did years ago.

She sat opposite him and took a sip from the cup elegantly and spoke. "We have lost too much this time and I am sure that we will not survive this so I think it is time to come clean about everything…"

The jester nodded with a serious face while listening intently to her.