Chapter Twenty Six: One Piercing Strike
Public hearing was a special kind of occasion that took place only once every year.
It was an occasion when the king would come out in public and the people would bring forth some of the problems they were facing and could even go as far as suggesting solutions to them.
The king's secretary would note down everything and then later he would try to solve the problems he could solve and try to find a way to solve the difficult ones.
This has been going on for years now and the king has always found a way to solve the problems that needed attention the most.
Although, there has been a recent problem that he has refused to say anything about.
For this year's public hearing, the princess had to handle it because her father was away on important business.
She really didn't like the idea of standing in front of all these people to listen to what they had to say but as the only child of the king and the heir to the throne, she had to.
This was one of those rare occasions that you would see her dressed like a proper princess.
She was putting on a black dress that was covering her body properly from the people's point of view at least.
She disliked the long dress that reached all the way to the floor so she had her maids make her something a little bit shorter, a dress that could barely reach her knee but also gave her the freedom to move her legs as she pleased.
Her permed hair was tied back most of the time but now it was nicely straightened out, the maids did a really good job in trying to make the hair look straight.
With more and more people flooding into the area, it looked like it was finally time to start.
Devon would have already left, but after seeing the tiara the princess was wearing, he just sort of felt obliged to stay.
The whole area was getting rowdy with almost everyone talking at the same time, but all it took to shut them up was the sound of the huge bell inside the academy.
"Order everyone!" The guard standing beside the princess yelled. "The princess wants to speak!"
If there was anyone that wanted to say anything after that loud gong from the bell, they had to swallow their words now as the place fell into a sudden state of total silence with the sound of the wind pushing the leaves across the floor being the only thing that could be heard.
The princess did not speak hastily and slowly observed everyone and the surroundings before clearing her throat.
"Welcome, everyone, I trust that you all know the reason for this gathering. My father is supposed to be the one standing here today but since he can't be here today, I will have to stand in for him." She addressed the people. "Now before you all start throwing words at me, let's make a few things straight, firstly, I want this to be as quiet and organized as possible so please try to keep your voice as low as possible when speaking unless I point you to speak, did you all get that?"
"Yes!" A part of the crowd responded.
Compared to her father she seemed to be way more assertive and there was something about her voice that compelled the people to obey despite her voice getting a bit casual somewhere around the last part of her address.
After making the rules clear, the people started stating their problems, and so far, everything that was being talked about was just little problems that could be easily resolved that was until.
The woman that was explaining how she thought the process of leaving the kingdom was tedious had just finished speaking and now and since the Princess refused to make any comments on that, everyone that had something to say had their hands up again.
She scanned the crowd with her eyes until she found someone who she thought might have something interesting to say.
"Hey, you there, the girl with the glasses." She called out pointing to the right.
There was indeed a girl with glasses in that area and she seemed to be with her mother who hit down her hand as soon as she got called out.
"Hey, you, why are you hitting down her hand? Are you her mother?" She inquired with her gaze now on the woman.
"Yes." The woman replied with a nod.
"I see, but I still want to hear what she wants to say so I want you to keep your hands to yourself." She articulated before turning her gaze to the girl with the glasses. "Hey, go ahead, say what you wanted to say."
She looked like she was between the age of twelve to thirteen.
"Umm." The little girl stuttered before adjusting her glasses. "My father trades crystals for a living, but recently he's been going to this place called the black market to sell them and each time he comes back he tells me that it was a good day but then later I see him quarreling with my mother, I think they were taking his crystal without giving him anything, he doesn't look very happy these days and my mother too." She narrated.
Her mother was standing behind her the whole time with her hands itching to grab her by her mouth and shut her up but she couldn't because of the princess and now that her daughter was done, she slowly turned her gaze to her mother.
"Hmm, black market, I think I've heard about something like that before." The Princess muttered before crossing her arms.
Devon was paying close attention to everything with his arms crossed and so far everything seemed calm until his gaze turned a little to the tree quite a distance away from him.
"No." He gasped.
What he spotted was a crossbow sticking out from the side of the tree and it had an arrow in it.
Just before he could react in any way, the person with the crossbow shot out the arrow but luckily for Devon, he wasn't the target.
The little girl still had her gaze on her mother when the arrow flew straight to her and pierced through her neck.
As soon as the arrow pierced through the young girl's neck, she quickly placed her hand on the area as the blood covered her hand and piled up on the edge before it began to drop on the floor slowly.
She suddenly felt the need to remove her hand as her vision was getting blurry, and just as she did that, her blood began to pour down on the floor, she was hit in a bad spot.
It was like she forgot to scream at first and was remembering to do it now even though she lacked the strength to do it.
"Arghh…ahhh." She couldn't even make a proper sound anymore.
The hit from the arrow seemed to have strained her voice but she still managed to let out an almost mute groan and a cough that brought out nothing but more blood before crashing down in front of her mother, the blood from her bleeding neck now flowing down to soak her clothes, it was a gruesome sight.
Her mother could not believe her eyes, she was still trying to convince herself that it was a dream in her mind.
"No, no, no, Amanda." She stuttered as she slowly knelt down in front of her. "Amanda, no!" She cried at the top of her lungs as tears slowly began to drop down from her eyes.
Most of the people in the area didn't even wait for the girl to drop on the floor before clearing out, everyone was running Helter Skelter and the only ones that remained standing were either out of their mind or foolishly brave.
The area was in a state of chaos now and all it took to make that happen was putting an arrow through a little girl's neck.
The Princess was still trying to process what just happened as the little girl's body dropped to the floor but she wasn't going to be getting enough time to do that as three arrows quickly came flying toward her.
The first two quickly took out the guards who were beside her.
They had their swords out with their eyes constantly scanning the area but still, their eyes weren't able to catch the arrows that came toward them from behind and pierced through their necks.
The princess was standing alone now with the secretary crying on the floor and the third arrow quickly coming toward her from behind while she still had her gaze on the girl who was soaked in her own blood now.