If generosity
is a crime, then I am one hundred times guiltier than he!
- Princess Rebecca Sarah Angelheart, upon seeing a Nobleman being arrested for feeding an Unfortunate.
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Guldtosia was a large town; so large that one would even call it a city. The houses were all built in neat little rows along the equally neat streets. There was no litter in Guldtosia, the Royal Family made certain of that. But, it was only near the castle and in front of the main gates of the city that it was like this, because in the centre of the city, lay the ‘lower-class’ district of Guldtosia, where all the poor lived and died – mostly of starvation and sickness. What did the nobility do about it? Nothing for the most part, and those that did were taken away by the Mediators, the law enforcement officers of Guldtosia, for ‘dishonouring their family name’ by helping the ‘unfortunates’. And any nobility travelling through the city were taken around the centre, so as not to see the ‘unfortunates’ and how they lived. And what of the Royal Family’s perception of their fine city? They thought it was all fine and good, because that’s what the Priest’s of Claraxis, Goddess of Welfare, told them: that everybody was happy and that nobody went hungry, or died of sickness. That was, of course, until the Crown Princess of Trivadia snuck into the city one morning…
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“I never imagined that the city was so large.” The 16-year-old girl looked around in wonder at her hometown – or city, as it was in this case – and thought about all the years that she had been kept inside, on the orders of the Priest’s of Claraxis. She did not like those priests, they were too strict and controlling, but only she saw through their little charade, but being only 16, nobody took her seriously. The Princess Rebecca Sarah Angelheart straightened out her long white dress and matching hooded-cloak, made sure that her long brown hair was under the hood, and scanned the area with her beautiful emerald green eyes. She was right near the castle walls, in the ‘upper-class’ area of Guldtosia, where the Nobility lived. From where she was standing, it all looked as the priest’s said it was: beautiful, neat, free of hunger and illness… But something told Rebecca that this was only one part of the city that there were other, less inviting parts that she had yet to see. She continued down the clean streets, past all of the expensive-looking houses and people in the expensive clothes, until she came to the very centre of the city. Rebecca could only stand in the middle of a filthy street and stare at the people around her, the starving, filthy and sick people that walked slowly in their garbage-laden streets, dressed in threadbare clothing that had been tossed out by the nobles that didn’t need them anymore. Rebecca looked down at her clothing – woven out of the finest silk – and suddenly felt guilty, and angry. Angry with those priests for lying to her and her family, so that the Angelheart family wouldn’t spend money on the poor and needy, so that they would receive all of the funding for their own selfish desires. Rebecca’s eyes narrowed as she felt the anger build up inside of her. She would have let out a scream of rage, if the sounds of struggling hadn’t caught her attention. She turned, and her anger increased when she saw a Nobleman being arrested. She walked over to the Mediator that was arresting him and stood in front of him.
“What is this man’s crime?” she asked the dumbfounded Mediator.
“Dishonouring his family name by aiding one of these filthy Unfortunates,” the Mediator replied. Rebecca glared at him with such intensity that if looks could kill, the poor man would have been reduced to ash. Then, she basically snapped.
“If generosity is a crime, then I am one hundred times guiltier than he!” she yelled. “I demand that you release him at once!”
The Mediator laughed. “And why should I listen to you?” he asked.
Then the lightning bolt struck him in the chest, sending him flying across the street to land in a pigsty. Rebecca smiled slightly – she alone knew of her magical skills – and laughed.
“Right where you belong!” she said. “With the rest of the pigs!”
She turned to the Noble and looked at him. He was handsome, with dark blue eyes and light brown hair. He wore black silk pants, a matching tunic, boots and gloves and topped that off with a black hooded cape. She noted with interest that he carried a sword in a black sheath at his side. “Perhaps he wants to become a knight,” she thought. “Are you all right?”
He nodded as he brushed himself off. “I am fine, my Lady,” he said. He looked at her curiously for a moment. “Have we met?”
Rebecca shook her head quickly. “I don’t think so,” she said. “What is your name?”
“Samuel Neocene, son of the Duke Philip Neocene,” he replied. “May I ask your name?”
Once again, Rebecca smiled. “Another time,” she said. “I have to get home before my mother realizes I’m gone. And I have to tell her what I’ve seen here today.”
She nodded to him in a farewell and left the lower-class district, her anger relieved somewhat.