A Malice Heart

The room fell silent as the newly crowned king rested upon his throne, an ankle over a knee and both hands gripping the armrests so hard that they almost broke.

“Fine,” his voice drawled across the room filled with nobles as his now ex-lover stood below his altar, tears streaming down her face as she looked up at him. The sight of her trying to play innocent in the presence of everyone that watched them caused a feeling of rage to surge through his veins once again. “If this is how you want to play this game, then so be it.”

The nobles began murmuring to one another, a few shuffling their way out of the stuffed room to get away from their psychotic leader. Malice merely continued staring down at them, his blood-red eyes chilling at the sight of the golden-haired girl before him, begging for forgiveness.

The crown that sat upon his head was heavier than he had expected it to be. According to his ancestors, the weight was supposed to symbolize the burden that every king is supposed to face when taking care of the land.

Malice saw this as complete bullshit and already planned on making an appointment to construct a new crown, one that would be as light as a feather but will glow bright enough for everyone to see exactly who their new king was.

He ran his pointer finger over his lip, eyes straining as he took in the sight of this peasant before him. “Shoot her.”

A gunshot rang almost immediately from a nearby corner, causing a gasp from the crowd which was no sooner followed by screams. The girl now laid before him, her body sprawled on his freshly cleaned floor, her crimson-colored blood starting to form a puddle where the figure stayed motionless.

Finally, the stupid girl was dead.

He had had enough of her constant nagging about how she could change him and make him normal. There was no such thing as ‘normal’ where he came from. Not when one’s parents attempted to kill their only son while he was merely a child. Not when they had failed, attempted it again while he was a teenager, failed that time as well, and ended up killing themselves a few months ago.

Those two scoundrels may have been good leaders to this awful kingdom, but they sucked at parenting. And murder. The latter was a true disappointment.

Now, King Malice had to run this kingdom all by himself and his despair, wishing every day to be his last. That was when Blondie arrived at his feet, claiming that she could get him out of his misery and make his life worth living. That they can have a beautiful future together, with her by his side as queen.

Malice had liked the idea then, up until the part where he found her cheating on him with one of the palace guards this morning. It was an off putting sight, the two of them, but it wasn’t surprising.

The king hadn’t even cared to learn her name. That doesn’t matter now given that she was dead, and he officially became the leader of this messed up kingdom.