“Please! Don’t do this I promise I will disappear from the Queens eyes! I will live as if I am dead!” A middle age man begs as he stumbles to the ground.

“Unfortunately I have direct orders from the Queen to bring your head to her.” A hooded man shrugs slowly approaching the trembling man.

“N-no…no! P-please!”

The young man ignored him and reached for his sword approaching the man below him trembling in fear trying to crawl away.

“Stay still I will try to make this as painless as possible.” The young man spoke calmly.

The middle age man whimpered closing his eyes as tears stream down his face accepting his fate.

---------------

The Queen sat gleefully on her throne looking down at the head before her with a smirk plastered upon her flawless face.

“Well done Mark, I can always count on you to get the job done.”

Mark bowed placing a hand over his heart “Anything for you, your Highness.”

The Queen laughs while rising from her throne “Now that we’ve got King Yong’s advisor out of the way the King is left with nothing besides a bunch of brainless generals. Soon the kingdom of Arbre will be good for the taking!”

“Shall I send over General Lee to prepare for battle?” Mark ask.

“No I will send my advisor over to him, I have another important task I must have you do.”

Mark can’t help but let his heart sink whenever the Queen has a “task” for him it usually means he must kill someone. Mark bit the inside of his mouth to stop his trembling hands, the face of the advisor he just killed still haunts him. Mark has gotten to know the man from his days of stalking him, planning for the right time to kill. The advisor was a good man and father but he got in the way of the Queen and because he got in the way of the Queen, he is a pest which means Mark must exterminate whatever the Queen deems troublesome, after all it is Mark’s job.

“I want you to kill my stepson.” The Queen said bluntly as she examines for nails for imperfections.

For the first time Mark lifted his head to meet the eyes of the Queen causing him to silently curse at himself. One thing Mark has learned from his 10 years of serving the Queen is to never show his true emotions. The Queen needs a coldblooded assassin and if Mark can’t provide that he will be thrown out left to rot in a cellar somewhere.

The Queen raised an eyebrow at Mark holding her gaze. “Is that a problem?” the Queen stated cooly challenging Mark to say otherwise.

“No your highness.” Mark said firmly with no trace of hesitation.

“Then what are you waiting for?” The Queen ask as she turns her back to play with the head of the advisor tugging on his whiskers and hair.

Mark gave a curt bow before heading out of the throne room quickly closing the door behind him. Mark has a bitter taste in his mouth that he can’t get rid of as he walks down the busy halls with servant girls hurriedly walking to their task or destination.

The blonde tightens his grip on his sword as last night’s scene play before him the sorrow and helplessness the advisor felt all very evident on his face as he tearfully accepted his fate. Mark chokes back a silent whimper blinking rapidly to stop the tears from flowing. His job has never gotten easier, he has been the Queens dog for 10 years and it has never gotten better the guilt still eats at him, the faces of his past victims continues to haunt him serving as a reminder of his crimes.

After all those years Mark has simply only gotten better at hiding his emotions behind a cold face and quiet demeanor. When Mark was first tasked to be an assassin the blonde would cry every night to sleep and when he expressed his guilt to his master he was thrown into a cold cellar to starve for three days. It was then Mark learned very quickly the castle is no home and the Queen is no motherly figure. She simply took Mark in because he was parentless and homeless and had no life ahead of him but death either from starving or from other cruel men who roam the streets searching for a punching bag.

--------------

“Mark hyung! You’re back, for how long this time?” A tall stable boy asks smiling at the blonde.

“Not for long I’m leaving tonight.” Mark said softly walking up to his horse, Coco. Mark wince every time he thinks of calling Coco; a name he gave at the age of 13. Mark does not recall why he gave such a silly name as Coco to a grand and beautiful stallion as she is but the horse will not respond to anything else but that.

“Ahahaha! I’m sorry hyung but Coco’s name does not fit her or you at all. It’s always so funny when I have to introduce Coco as, the great stallion of Sir Mark.”

Mark purse his lips slightly before flicking Yugyeom in the forehead.

“O-Ow!”

“Just hurry up and get me my saddle.”

Yugyeom raised an eyebrow giving Mark a look, “are you sure you want to leave so quickly?” concern flashing before his eyes.

Mark bit his lips, “Yeah I just want to get this over with so I can be home and alone.”

Yugyeom sighs wishing he could say more but he knows there is nothing he can say or do before walking away to retrieve Mark’s saddle.

Almost everyone in the castle knows about Mark and his special job. He is the Queens loyal dog that will do any of the Queens dirty work. Because of Mark’s special job everyone tends to avoid Mark or worse pretend he does not exist at all. Yugyeom always wondered how can anyone live a life like that.

Does he not get lonely? Yugyeom thought to himself as he reaches for the saddle that hung on the shelf with many other saddles that belonged to other knights and castle officials.  

“Who is the unfortunate person the Queen ask you to kill off this time?” Yugyeom ask nonchalantly.

Yugyeom is already used to hearing the gruesome stories from the servant girls who would often gossip and whisper about Mark behind his back. But he would rather hear it from Mark himself.  He knows Mark is not the type that kills for the joy of it, no matter how loyal he is to the Queen no one can actually murder someone in cold blood without feeling anything.  

Mark bit his lips avoiding to look Yugyeom in the eyes as he reaches for his saddle and began to strap up Coco.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. I would just rather hear it from you than from the dramatic servant girls whispering lies throughout the castle halls.”

“Why do you even talk to me?” Mark asks instead of answering the stable boys question.

Yugyeom shrugs and pursue his lips in deep thought.

“I dunno, at first I just wanted to see who this dark and mysterious dog of the Queen is like, but you were not what I imagined you to be. You’re just a big whimp that can’t say no to the Queen because you’re just afraid.”

Mark stopped fitting Coco to meet Yugyeom’s eyes particularly taken back by what the stable boy actually thought of him and shame for never being able to disobey the Queen.

After a long pause Mark finally spoke, “then why do you still talk to me and befriend me?”

“Cause I like you? Duh? You’re like a hyung to me plus you take good care of me.” Yugyeom responded without a thought of hesitation as he proceeds to sweep up the left over hay the horses left behind.

Mark coughs awkwardly to hid his smile that is spreading quickly across his face in relief. Mark never realized how important Yugyeom was to him until now. He was sure he was ok with being alone forever and living his life as an outcast.

“Thanks Yug.”

Yugyeom hums in respond before flashing Mark a smile. “I’ll always be here for you hyung, you’re not a bad person you’re just a person whose afraid and has made many bad mistakes because of it.”

Mark bit his lips again seriously thinking over what Yugyeom said. But the thought of the Queen snapped him back. As his hands began to tremble uncontrollably as his childhood flash before his eyes; memories that he tries so hard to bury.

“Hyung? Are you ok?” Yugeyom asks with concern in his voice as he approaches Mark.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. I-I should go now.”

With that Mark left hurriedly out the door dragging Coco along with him.

The Prince’s “home” was not far from the castle but actually finding the secret passage way to get inside, was the hardest task.

The tower the Prince lives in is hidden by mirage casted by a wizard under the control of the Queen. Only people with special eyes can see through the magic, which Mark possesses from birth although some can learn to see through mirage through training but that requires immense talent and skill.

The tower was tall towering over the trees that lined the woods with vines scaling along the surface. Mark squints his eyes standing before the tower hidden by the shrubs and trees looking up to see the only window that lined the surface of the tower. The light was dim but there was still light nevertheless which means the Prince is still awake; making Mark’s job much harder.

Mark prefers killing people in the most painless and peaceful way possible. Mark really didn’t want to kill the Prince since the young heir has shown him kindness when he was young.

Mark does not recall what the Prince looked like since the cellar was dark but Mark could have sworn it was the Prince who gave him a roll of bread and soup when he was locked away for crying and showing signs of remorse.

“You’re just a person who has made many bad mistakes.”

“You’re not a bad person.”

 Yugyeom’s voice began to circle around his mind. Mark bit his nails; a bad habit he developed to cope with his anxiety and constant stress of his “job”.

Coco gently nuzzled her snout against Marks free hand slightly nicking it with her teeth in concern with her master.

“I-I’m fine Coco…”

Coco scoffed in respond before she began to pull Mark away from the tower.

Mark hesitated resisting the pull from Coco but he ultimately gave up and began to walk away with Coco before the flash backs from his childhood came flooding back in tidal waves crashing into his brain each wave worse than the last.  

Mark winced falling down onto the grass clutching his chest trying hard to breath but nothing was going through to his lungs.

Coco whines softly nudging Mark with her nose stomping nervously with her hooves in place worried about his master.

Mark groans in pain the healed scars from his past seems to come back digging into his skin every movement seems to ignite more pain. With trembling hands Mark reaches for Coco in hopes of calming his trusted stallion but the pain was too much making Mark drop his outreached arm. His action made Coco more nervous as she began to whine loudly stomping as loudly as possible bumping into trees and scrubs.

Mark tries to produce some form of sound to hush Coco but nothing came out, slowly Mark’s vision began to blur but not before he sees Coco running off towards the tower and someone else’s voice trying to calm Coco.

Hello, here is the updated version of To Beautiful to Kill. I had more fun writing this after I sorted out what I wanted to do with the fanfic and organized my thoughts more as well as the plot. So I’m very happy with this version more, it is a bit darker than the previous one but I felt Mark needed to be more developed since he was lacking in my opinion. But then again many aspect of this fanfic was lacking.