The Heir's Insignia

"Your Highnesses," the Patch instructor Silva addressed his class of royal bloods with great enthusiasm. "I have read your essays on your partner's kingdoms and they were generally good."

Master Silva arranged the papers in an orderly bundle and started to hand them back to their respective owners. Occasional gasps of delight and a few sighs of disappointment resounded within the walls of the classroom.

"Some were so informative and beautifully written that they deserve to be given extra merit," Silva stopped by Prince Ren's seat and smiled at him. "Shall we give a cheerful applause to the Kaminari-Kouri royal pair?"

Princess Pirika smiled at her partner who returned it with a thumb up.

"You see, Your Majesties, even enemies can produce something good if they help each other out. By the way, the Friendship Ball is drawing near. I am praying to the Great Spirit for a peaceful celebration. Let's set aside our differences, can you all promise me that?"

"Yes, Master Silva," the class responded out of habit.

"Good. Now today, let us delve into the subject of Royal symbols. Majority of the kingdoms and dukedoms in this world had designed a symbol to represent their royal family. To name a few, the Tao's have the wheel of balance, the Mont St. Michel's have the iron maiden, the Diethel's have the pendulum, the Asakura's have the six-pointed star, the Usui's have the butterbur leaf while the Kyouyama's have the 1080 bead necklace. Because royal clans have existed for hundreds even thousands of years, these symbols were eventually used to signify the kingdom or dukedom as a whole. Why is a symbol important? There are a lot of reasons actually but I will give you only three. The rest will be an after-school work in the form of an essay."

The whole class groaned but Master Silva continued his lecture.

"First, a symbol is a source of power and/or inspiration during war. For whatever reason he has, a king is not always present in the battlefield. Not seeing their leader would lower down the morale of the tired and war-beaten troops. So when a flag displaying their kingdom's symbol is raised up, they are reminded of their cause, their pledge to risk their life for their beloved kingdom. Second, a symbol offers a sense of honor and importance. To a commoner who received a letter bearing the symbol of the king thanking him for his efforts is already an act of recognition on the part of the monarchy. Third, it gives a sense of urgency and authenticity. News and public statements become genuine and official when the dry stamp or letter head bears the kingdom's symbol."

"So that means when I receive an execution letter bearing the symbol of our dukedom, then I should fear for my life!" Chocolove exclaimed.

"Yes, but it will be ironic because you will be issuing that letter yourself as the new duke," Master Silva answered him a matter-of-factly.

The whole class laughed. Prince Ren and Lyserg glared at their friend for blurting out nonsensical things.

"But sometimes it isn't enough to pass up a letter with the kingdom's symbol printed, stamped or dry sealed on it as coming from the palace. There are a lot of crooks who are expert forgers out there," Lyserg pointed out.

"Well-said Lyserg. That is why in some kingdoms, a special symbol is created to represent the king or the heir to the throne. This symbol is used by monarchs to exchange important and highly confidential telegrams to each other. The letters are usually delivered by hand and only by the king's trusted messenger."

"Ohh… so that's why my father dry seals his letter with a wolf symbol whenever he sends a message to me," the Kouri royal thought out loud.

"I don't think it is right for you to divulge that information, Princess Pirika…" Master Silva scratched his head.

In front of the former Kouku king and queen's chamber...

She was the newest chambermaid in the Kouku palace. This was probably the reason why she was bullied into doing the one thing the rest of the palace servants had dreaded. After all, cleaning the monarchs' blood-soaked room was not an easy undertaking. She wanted to give her co-workers the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps this task was just too difficult and too emotional for them to handle as it would evoke the gruesome events that took place during the night of the murder.

Her heart raced as she went near the closed door. Bloody pieces of wood protruded from a hole where the pointed weapon went through. They said that the murdered king was impaled on this very door. He was pierced so deep that it left a gaping hole in his chest when the weapon was removed.

Amidst the foul stench coming from inside the room, she stopped herself from vomiting and slowly pushed the door open.

She was terrified at the scene that unfolded. She wanted to back out, to run downstairs and cry in the servants' quarters but her job was at stake. Her mother would be disappointed if she quit serving the Kyouyama household for their clan was a line of trusted palace servants. Only now there were no Kyouyama's anymore.

The room reeked of death. The floor was painted with blood that already congealed. Only the bodies and weapons were taken out but the chamber and all its paraphernalia and furniture were left untouched ever since the murder. It had been the new king's order not to move and remove anything from the scene of the crime until the investigation was finished. Apparently, King Tori had given up on his search for justice and she, as an initiation rite to her servanthood, was given license to put the place in order.

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she went to her knees and began to scrub the floor rigorously. Then she saw something sparkled like gold near a stone tile that had a piece chipped off. She crawled towards it and carefully laid the object on the palm of her hand. It was a star-shaped gold pin.