Aunee

That's the thing about this city; no matter how hard you try to go unnoticed, their eyes are always on you. I am always being watched, no matter where I go. The cameras are the most annoying part of my day to day life, sitting on the light posts and the corners of buildings. I know he is watching the screens in the security room at the castle. I know he had his Royal Technology Team hack into every camera layed out in Aunee just so he could watch my every move. 

It doesn’t matter how drastically I change my outward appearance, I always sense the beady eyes watching me. Derek and I had grown up together, and ever since I left the castle all eyes have been on me. 

I ran away when I was 12 and a single mom took me into her home, knowing nothing about me. Julie is the only mother I’ve ever known. Apparently I was a servant's daughter, and my birth mom died in childbirth. At that point, the queen decided to take me in and I was raised alongside Derek. Next fall Derek will be reigning King and I will still be just a lowly thief. 

Around the time I turned 10, Derek started to act out against me. Anytime I was receiving attention in front of Derek, he did everything his 9 year old brain would let him do to belittle me and make me feel bad. The night before my 12th birthday, the Queen paid me a visit. 

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“Alana!” Queen Jilaiya was shaking me awake. 

As I rolled over I groaned “What happened?”

“I need to be honest with you. Come along, sit up now.”

I sat up and stared at Jilaiya, waiting for her to speak. 

Her velvety smooth voice filled up my small room, which was more like a broom closet as she began talking to me “Alana, honey. I need to tell you something. Beginning Monday, Derek will no longer be in lessons with you. He will be only learning things that will make him a better King. We are afraid he seems to be focusing on you instead of his studies and that will not be accepted.”

My eyes widened as she said this because to my young mind, all I heard was my best friend was being taken away from me. Jilaiya tilted her head and I could see a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth as she began to speak yet again. 

“I have more bad news. Derek needs a new room to do his studies in, and we will be removing this….room.”

“Okay, where would you like me to move all of my things Your Majesty?” 

“Unfortunately, we do not have any other rooms in the castle that we can spare for you.”

“So where am I supposed to go?”

“Darling, I’m not sure. We have done our part by providing you with the best education you could get and now we’ve done our part. I’m afraid it’s time to leave,” With that being her final sentence, she got up and left.

I sat there in disbelief for a while, too shocked to even move. After the numbness wore off, I began to weep as much as one thousand oceans. I continued to sob silently as I packed my bag with the few things I owned. 

After that I calmed myself down enough to where I was just sitting on the middle of my old bed in that small bedroom. I knew they were probably not going to make a new study room for Derek, and that he would not be getting royal lessons until he was 13. I did know in my heart that the King and Queen only saw me as a lowly servant's orphan daughter, and I’ve always been that to them. In their mind I wasn’t worth a thing and I never would be. 

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As I walked through the market making my way back to the small apartment I lived in above an old alley that was yet to get cameras, I began to contemplate how I had come about this life. I stole from the rich people who hired me to clean their house. Although I was an orphan, I had the stark black hair and lush green eyes that resembled the royal family. 

After the old world was taken down and the Kingdom of Aunee was built from its ashes, the Darling family became the royal family. Each member of their family had the raven hair and the green eyes, and only about 1% of the population in that area also had those features. Any normal commoner who carries royal traits is treated with a respect and trust that most normal people don’t get. 

I shortly figured that out after Julie raised me to carry myself with the highest respect. If you respect yourself, everyone else will have to respect you as well. As soon as I was old enough to work, I began cleaning noble houses. I would pickpocket random things from their house-things I knew from my time at the castle-that would not be missed. Julie and her best friend have a stand at the market that they then sell the things for. ‘Julie’s Odds and Ends’ is the name of the stand, and I’m fairly certain they only let them run the stand because it is not associated with me. 

Throughout the years as I have tried to live in this town and make it, I have been unable to get a real job. Somehow Jilaiya managed to make it known to all of the reputable companies to ‘watch out for the little girl with black hair and green eyes, she has done evil things.’ In reality, although most people in the world are greedy and don’t care about you, I care about them. 

I remember when I was little and was still living in the castle and I would play dress up and pretend like I was Queen. The King would always be reading on his laptop watching Derek and I play out of the corner of his eye. He would always smirk at us when I had pretended to do a speech on how I would make Aunee a better place, and then Derek would shove me aside and try to upstage me. I could see in his eyes he only cared about winning and being the best, but I didn’t care because he was my best and only friend and I thought he would never betray me. 

I sit and ponder all of the time about how much better Aunee would be if I was the Queen. I have enough knowledge of royal workings and enough knowledge of how the middle class citizens live, and I truly think I could make the world a better place. 

I have always been told I look strikingly like the king, but I just ignore those comments. The king was a terrible man for taking me in and then kicking me out, and then allowing Derek to always be watching. The cameras glare follow me everywhere I go, except to my little safe haven. My petite apartment tucked away was my favorite place to be. No one ever comes knocking on my door and I have as much privacy that you could get in this day and age. 

Most days for me are the same, except I live my life under the false name of Pandora. As I grew up I got used to hearing my false name called and having to respond to it. Alana was no longer here, and perhaps that is why one day late fall I was so shocked...

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In order to make a profit off of cleaning houses and stealing little things, I had to get my reputable name spread around. One noble’s wife would tell another, and then the maids would hear about me and so on. One late evening, I received an E-Vite to come clean Lady Arrowsmithe’s house. She wanted all of the floors scrubbed and silver polished and that sort of thing. It was a perfect opportunity to pick up some knick-knacks. I clicked except and I made sure I was fully prepared for that day. 

When the day finally did come, I was as ready as I would ever be. I was greeted at the home by the head of the house, the Main Maid. Her name did not matter, for she was just a robot. The only reason my business is so popular is because it is a real person getting the job done right on the first time and making everything spotless. 

Around that time I was about 17, and would be turning 18 come summer. As I scrubbed the floors of Lady Arrowsmithe’s home, I pondered what I was to do with the rest of my life. 

As I was washing away, someone called out with a clear commanding voice “Alana.”

I whipped my head around to find myself staring up at my old school teacher. I responded by asking “Mary Louise! What on earth are you doing here?”

“Darling, I live here. I am Lady Arrowsmithe. My question is how on earth are you here?”

“Well. I clean houses to make money,” I stated simply. 

“Darling, you shouldn’t be cleaning houses. You’re royal.” 

That was the day that changed my life. 

   ********************************

After I got through the initial shock, Mary Louise explained to me who I actually was. My mother truly was a maid who died in childbirth, but my father was the King. He did not want Jilaiya finding out that he cheated, but she did and that is why I got kicked out. Derek was my half brother, and when he developed a crush on me when we were ignorant children it was a very unhealthy thing. 

The most shocking news that Mary Louise bestowed upon me was that I was next in line for the throne, and that I had to claim it quickly before Derek was named king. 

In the Kingdom of Aunee, the firstborn child will be the next reigning monarch, regardless of gender. The current king never wanted a queen to be in complete power, so when his firstborn was a female, he decided to never speak to her again.

After Mary Louise shared with me all of that, I climbed my way through the social ladder by cleaning houses for the women of Aunee. I eventually got a position as a maid at the castle under my false name. 

One day when I was cleaning the king's chambers, I collected a sample of his DNA and had a DNA test done to prove he is my father. I then carefully constructed a plan to take him out. The next big luncheon was one week prior to the coronation of Derek. I would poison everything he drinks with different substances until he dies from one of them. I convinced my fellow staff to help me by telling them it was a medicine. By the end of the meal, the king was slumped over in his chair dead. 

As desert was brought out, the king’s lifeless body was discovered. At that point I stood and lowered my hood. 

“People of Aunee! I have come to claim the throne that is mine!”

Murmurs and gasps broke out as Derek claimed, “That’s impossible!”

I continued on, “I am the first born child of the dead king! My mother was a maid but the king was my father, I have DNA tests to prove it!”

Derek came up to me and saw my results. I took him to court and they ruled that my coronation was to commence the following week, and I would rule with three royal advisors. I knew deep in my heart that I would make an amazing change to the city, and hopefully help the people that lived in alleyways like I did. If I did not make a positive change to Aunee I would be ashamed of myself, and would rather die than live a face of guilt. I wanted there to be more opportunities for the povershied to rise up and make more money and I wanted the rich to be brought down a little bit. Most importantly I wanted the women to rise up. The only reason the king didn’t want me is because I am a woman, and that is unacceptable. 

I was so excited to be crowned and make a really good change in the Kingdom of Aunee. 

That’s why it was so heartbreaking when I died.