The King and Queen of Astratium were dead. When the tragic news was announced, the entire kingdom became deathly quiet from shock.

　　The King and Queens' bodies was discovered in their bedroom by a family maid who usually took the duty of waking the King and Queen up. When she noticed that King and Queen weren't waking up and how deathly still they were, she hurried to call for the royal physician. It was then, when the royal physician came in and checked their bodies, he had realised that they had no pulse. He checked over multiple times; but no matter how many times he had checked, the King and Queen had not resurrected.

　　He finally announced in a shocked and rejected, "The King and Queen are dead but I have no idea, how it happened. There is no wound, no injuries. Its like their heart just stopped."

　　The head guard grunted, "They must have been poisoned then. They were perfectly healthy people, it just doesn't make sense for their hearts to just stop."

　　The maid piped up, saying "Then either someone snuck in or was allowed in whilst the King and Queen was sleeping. Didn't any of the guards see or hear anything?"

　　The head guard looked at her before hesitating to say, " Actually, no. I was told by the guards who were supposed to guard the bedroom, that someone had made a report of an intruder and they were called away to help look for the intruder. I may now have reason to believe that it was a false report."

　　The maid pursed her lips at the incompetency of the guards who dared to leave the King and Queens side. If there was an intruder, would it not make sense to guard the King and Queen so the intruder could not come close to them. However, before she could voice her thoughts, the royal physician spoke up.

　　"Before we continue, we must be aware that we do not know for certain whether the King and Queens death are really related to poisoning. I will check the King and Queens bodies for any known poisons. If there any poisons found then we know for certain that someone had managed to kill the King and Queen. That means that there is a murderer amongst us and they could go after the Prince. Evans Afton, as the head guard, I suggest you increase the security around Prince Julius."

　　Evans startled at the physician domineering tone before nodding in confirmation and walking out the room to do his duty. The physician turned toward the maid before sighing softly.

　　"I know that this must be shocking for you to discover but can you inform the Royal Court and Secretary of the King and Queens unfortunate passing?"

　　The maid nodded tearfully before scurrying of to do what the Royal physician had asked of her. The physician sigh before getting ready to examine the bodies of the King and Queen.

　　The news of the King and Queens death slowly spread throughout the Palace and Kingdom. Many had mixed feelings of the King and Queens passing. Whispers of what really caused the King and Queens deaths echoed through the hall.

　　"Its not surprising that they died young, I'd say," one maid whispered to another, as they walked around with baskets filled with clothing. "They were quite horrible people. The Queen overindulging on luxuries and the King screaming and abusing the servants. I heard anyone who served the King would have to be very careful not to set his temper off if they didn't want get hanged. Its no surprise that the King and Queen got murdered, anyone would be fed up with their behaviour."

　　The other maid looked at her with surprise.

　　“You really think the King and Queen got murdered?" She asked in fear and awe.

　　"Of course they were, silly girl. No ones heart just stops beating on their own, someone must have poisoned them. It's just the question of who would do such a daring thing. I reckon it's the Prince."

　　"The Prince? Why the Prince?"

　　"Well, its the way the treat the Prince. Everyone could see how cruel they are to their own son. Mother abandoned him and he was raised by a nanny. Never really interacted with anyone, he's so isolated and cold. I even heard that the King used to physically hurt him, repeatedly. I mean, if he can threaten servants, think of what he does to his own son. Poor child, to have parents like that. I believed he snapped and had them killed."

　　"Poor kid, I can't imagine having parents like that. Why would anyone treat their child like that? Especially if he's the heir to the throne, their legacy? No wonder he seems so icy and cold."

　　The talkative maid shooked her head, "Like I said, they were cruel people. Even if it wasn't the Prince, someone would have offed them eventually."

　　Their quiet voices trailed off, as arrived at their destination of the laundry rooms.

　　They were not the only ones who had the thought process of the King and Queen deserving their deaths which seemed to be a murder.

　　However, days later, the Royal physician had finally made a report of his examination. "The King and Queens body seem to not have a trace of any known or unknown substances or poisons that could have caused their death. It seems that the King and Queens death truly was from.... heart failure."

　　Once this report was announced, the entire palace seemed to burst with gossip and conspiracies. How, why, where and who.

　　The only one who seemed uninterested was the Prince, Julius Pace. He looked out the window of his bedroom, snow falling gracefully on bare trees.

　　He felt a weird kind of numbness, whether from great joy or deep sadness, he could not tell. Its true, that he never had a good relationship with his parents but he never wanted them dead. At least, he think he doesn't. It doesn't matter, they were gone now. What does this mean for him?

　　The uncertainty of his and the kingdom's future made him tremble. It made everyone tremble, but there is no way to tell, with the Royal Couple gone, who is going to grab the throne.