“B-but mama is here… You’re the strongest. And papa is second strongest…!” Amy mumbled sadly. She walked down the stairs a bit slowly and made her way over to me. “I wanted to show her my pillow…! The one mama made for me…” She was tearing up, and so was my heart.

“I-I….” I was dumbfounded, trying to look at Matt for help. He was scratching the back of his head in his usual awkward manner.

“F-fine… But what about the castle…?” I grumbled. Despite the weaponized cuteness, something about the whole situation was ringing alarm bells in my head.

“Well! If you’re really that worried, you could go tell them I’m here. I’m okay with them sending a guard or two here too if you really think it’s necessary.” Claire’s tone of voice was weird. The whole situation was weird. She was always so against having anyone but me accompanying her… why was she suddenly so open to having more guards present?

It’s not like her logic was totally flawed. If I asked her to go back, she’d be in even greater risk of getting caught in something dangerous, so it was certainly safer if it were I who went.

I begrudgingly gave in and agreed. As much as something in the back of my head was screaming for me to not go. I knew she probably wanted to flirt freely with Matt. But… that was really all that could happen, right? Amy was there too, so there was no way she would go overboard.

With these thoughts in my mind, I found myself running through the streets. My heart was beating. I don’t know why, but something about this got me really worked up. Fearful even. I hastened my pace and rushed past the market.

The sky was slowly darkening. It looked like it might rain soon.

As I made my way to the castle, some of the knights began shouting and pointing at me. It was a bit of an extreme reaction, but I figured they had just found out Claire was missing.

“THERE SHE IS! CAPTURE HER!!” The knights shouted and suddenly rushed in to apprehend me.

“C-calm down! Claire is fine! I just arrived to report she appeared in my house.” I started.

“Silence! Traitor! We saw the ransom note! You kidnapped the princess!!”

“Huh…?” My heart sunk. I knew something was wrong. I should have listened to my gut feeling. Something was horribly wrong here.

The knights began dragging me back home to show where I supposedly hid Claire. No matter how much I tried to argue I was innocent, they didn’t listen.

It was all wrong. I had spent most of my life with some of these knights. They somehow completely disregarded me and treated me like a completely heartless criminal. It was almost as if… they were wholly different people! There wasn’t even any real evidence of my wrongdoings outside a ransom note written clearly in someone else’s handwriting.

At the house, Claire ran out crying the moment we were dragged into sight. It was almost like she was waiting for the knights to arrive.

“HEELP!! I’M HEREEE!” She screamed and rushed out of the house in tears, wearing nothing but a nightgown.

            “Princess!!” The men rushed to her and gave her a coat.

“You monster! What did you do to her!?” The knights got even more agitated at me.

            “W-what is this!? Claire?! What are you doing?!” I staggered.

“That’s her! She kidnapped me and kept me in her house! Amelia!” She cried while accusing me.

The whole scene was an utter farce. There was no evidence, and yet the men all believed her completely blindly. None of it made any sense.

            “PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!! STOP!! SHE’S LYING!! THERE IS NO EVIDENCE!!”

“SILENCE!!” One of the knights punched me. “Her tears are evidence enough.” He smiled to himself, as if he said something really heroic.

“W-what…?!” My eyes widened in shock and horror. “W-who are you!? WHO ARE YOU?! WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE ONE OF MY KNIGHTS!? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!?” My screaming echoed through the entire neighborhood, yet somehow it was totally silent. Nobody came out of their houses to come see what was going on. It was as if everyone in town was sleeping at the same time.

The knights beat me down a bit more, calling me names. It was completely unreal. The knights who I trained along for my entire life were beating and kicking me while I was down. They looked like they were reveling in my suffering. As I managed to slowly gaze upon Claire, she was smirking in the most wicked manner, gesturing for the knights to stop, she slowly leaned in and whispered to me.

“I’m sorry Amelia, but Matthias is too hot for me to pass on, so I really need you to disappear.” She smiled and then stood back up again.

It was as if everything went silent. A few drops of rain began hitting the ground. Claire slowly pulled her hood up as a cascade of water began blasting upon me at full force.

The door to my house opened… and Matthias slowly walked out of it. He stopped behind Claire, gently wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

“I was only able to survive because Matt saved me…! He protected me from her evil…!” Claire pointed at me. Her emerald eyes gleamed through the darkness of the rain and her hood.

“Wh… wha?” I stared, the rain causing my hair to stick to my skin.

“Evil women like her need to be removed…! This kingdom really needs a purification… How sad. And I trusted you too, Amelia…!” Claire continued the strange act.

The knights smashed my head against the ground and began hurling insults at me, as from the house, Amy began running out. Tears trailing down her cheeks, she wailed.

“DON’T HURT MOMMYYYY!!” She shouted, picking up one of the toy swords in the yard and rushing at the knights. She was holding the little blue and white pillow I had knit for her in her other hand like a shield.

The rain drops felt slow and heavy, like pieces of molten iron. It was as if I saw each and every one of them while they bombarded me and the endless feeling distance between Amy and me.

“Ah right… The loose end.” Claire muttered quietly, but audibly enough for me to hear. “Kyaaah! PLEASE PROTECT ME!!” She suddenly screamed and squatted down.

The heavy clanging of armored shoes echoed through the rain, as a knight rushed at Amy… and without any doubt, cut her down.

A child.

The pillow flew in a wide arc through the air, stained with red.

She was four years old. Wielding a toy sword made of wood. She was by no logic a threat… But the knights blindly obeyed the insane princess in front of me, as if they were hypnotized.

My daughter was so small, that the only solace I could take at the moment was that her death was swift and hopefully painless.

The instant her tiny body slumped on the ground, everything turned red.

“YOUUUUU MONNSTEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!” I screamed with all the force in my body, forcing myself to stand with magical force provided to me by my paladin’s oath.

The knights flew back. I pulled my sword and began cutting them down mercilessly, but the moment I cut the first one, my powers were suddenly gone.

I had broken my oath to protect the people of this kingdom, so the powers of my paladin devotion also went with it. Not to say I was weak without them, but I quickly got overwhelmed by the surrounding knights.

I couldn’t understand. Why was I punished for hurting these miscreants?! They killed my daughter!! I couldn’t…

All I could see was red as I managed to break free from the group of men and rushed past them and past Claire… past my husband hugging her. I was aching and bleeding all over due to the assault of my very own knights, but all I could see was my daughter.

I rushed to Amy, lifted her up and ran into the streets.

“D-don’t worry Amy!! Don’t worry! Mama is here! I’ll…! I’ll find a healer! It’s…!!” Her innards were slowly pouring out of her body.

She was so warm… but in all the wrong ways. I tried grasping and holding her hand up against my cheek… but it flopped down lifelessly as soon as I let go.

“N-Nonono… NO NO NO!!” I screamed, finding a horse tied to a post by a bar. There were armed assailants running after me, the echoes of their shouts carried all the way to me as I hastily untied the ropes to the horse.

I began riding out of the kingdom. Out of this madness.

 Amy was dead.

There was no doubt about it. Her body was almost cleaved in half and her eyes were staring vacantly at the sky as rain fell over them. My daughter…! They killed my daughter.

            “YOU TRAITOR!! DIE!!” Screams of more knights were behind me.

Stray arrows began flying past me as I rushed through the forested paths on the horse. Amy’s blood was trailing all over my body. My divine powers were gone. I was helpless.

My line of sight was distorted from the tears, but I got soon jolted out of it by an arrow piercing my shoulder.

I grimaced in pain as more arrows rained down on me.

Somehow, I kept racing ahead. I didn’t even know why anymore.

Amy was dead.

Everything was gone. That monster did something to all the people I cared for. All of them… They behaved entirely wrong!! This was all wrong!!

I began slowly entering the swamplands, and the assailants finally lost me in the mists, but I was also losing consciousness fast. The horse was panicked, as it clearly sensed this area was dangerous.

I ended up falling off the animal, hitting my head and losing consciousness.

When I woke, the sound of quiet munching was what alerted me back to the present. I jolted up…

Only to find a wolf-like beast feeding upon my daughter’s body. Right next to me.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HERRRRR!!!” I screamed and began swinging at the beast with the last of my strength.

After an exhausting struggle, I finally killed the monster, only to return to Amy.

“A-Amy… Mama is so sorry… So sorry…!” There was nothing left of her but a red mess. My daughter was turned into a pile of unrecognizable flesh in a single night.

My beautiful daughter.

The light of my life.

The one who cheerfully sung me songs during the day, and gently held on to my thumb at night as she slept.

The one who I read stories about knights, and the one who always thought all the characters in the stories should just be friends.

Amy, my daughter, was reduced into a pile of red mush because one golden haired bitch thought she would get in the way of her harem.

The rain was still coming down. The redness from Amy’s remains was slowly spreading around.

“N-No… No no…” I began haphazardly gathering all of it, lifting it up clumsily.

I wandered in the swamps until I came across this hut. All I could do was stare at the merciless dark sky while rain pelted me.

The earth was soft enough to dig through with my bare hands due to the weather, so I made Amy a small grave next to the hut.

It was the least I could do for her after everything.

All I could do was stare at the sky and curse everything in my mind. I cursed the princess, I cursed the knights who betrayed me, I cursed the neighborhood for ignoring me, I even cursed my husband a bit, even though I still think he must have been under a spell of some kind.

I cursed the foul Goddess who abandoned me in my time of need.

I cursed myself, for trusting this monster. Oh… how I cursed myself.

I knew something was wrong the moment she started getting too close to my husband, but I never expected… in my darkest moments for it to end like this.

After mourning in silence for a couple of hours, I eventually dragged myself into the hut.

I’ve been sitting here, slapping myself to wake up from this nightmare since.