Walking down the bustling halls, hastily opening a letter in your hands. It had the Imperial Insignia on it, no doubt from the Kaiser or Kaiserin. It was normal for servants to read letters before their master read it in order to judge their importance, so this one must be of high priority. The delicate paper soon fell out into your hand, and you quickly opened it in order to relay the information to your master. The Emperor's handwriting was neat and straight, a testament to his high breeding.
"Dear Addy," it began, the looping script making you squint slightly. "I need you and your brothers to go and investigate this... haunted place for me. Word has spread there are ghosts in Bavaria. I wish I was jesting— but I highly doubt these are real. I believe it will soothe the people’s worries if the Kaiser’s children themselves went to check it out. The specific address will be on the back. I expect you all to investigate this anomaly by the 14th.”
At the end of the letter was his signature, which left your view as you quickly folded back up the letter to give to the prince. With a gentle rap to the door, you slowly stepped inside, seeing the prince at his desk as usual.
“Your Highness,” you said softly, walking up behind him. The letter was gently dipped in front of him, placed to his side. “There is a letter from the Emperor to you.”
Adalbert glanced up at you, before his gaze quickly went down to the papers on his desk. He let out a long sigh, already feeling a migraine come on. “Alright, just read it out to me.”
As you went over the contents of the letter, Adalbert soon looked up at you incredulously. “…Are you serious?” he said aghast. “Surely, Father hasn’t went out of his way to send me… this.”
You could only shake your head helplessly, putting the letter away. “I am not sure, Your Highness, but it seems important. Perhaps it would be best to just take a look.” a tentative smile crept up your lips, trying to find a bright side to this letter. “I believe it might serve as a good break to your work as well.”
Your smile seemed to be infectious, as soon a small smile crossed Adalbert’s usually solemn face. Well, he was never usually as sad as his expression made him look— but god did he have a resting bitch face. “Perhaps,” his melodic voice rang out. “If I do consider going, you shall come as well. Consider it a break.”
—
In the end, you ended up going, along with Wilhelm, Eitel Friedrich, and Victoria Louise. Joachim and August Wilhelm were too scared to go, and as Victoria Louise was usually with Oskar and Joachim, it was decided that the three would spend time together themselves.
“I can’t believe we’re actually here,” Wilhelm grumbled, semi-rolling his eyes. “Do you three really believe in ghosts?”
Eitel glanced at his brother, eyes squinting in discrimination. “Clearly not. But we’re here on father’s orders. And look, Sissy seems to be jumping out her skirts.”
As you turned towards the young girl, she was bouncing up and down, utterly excited to go. She tugged at Wilhelm’s trench coat, grinning. “Willy, let’s go inside already!”
With an exaggerated sigh, Wilhelm began to look at the items given in order to… investigate the kind of ghost it was. They were each given a journal, stating the different kinds of ghosts, their attributes and evidence they could use.
“… The ghosts name is Hans Müller,” Adalbert noted, showing you it on the clipboard. “It says if you say it the ghost gets angry.”
Adalbert seemed to be remotely curious, a smirk tugging up his face. “I think Willy is just putting up a brave front. You should scare him,”
You couldn’t help but giggle in return, already imagining the Crown Prince’s horrified expression. With a call from Victoria Louise, however, you all quickly ushered inside the building.
“Why is it so dark and creepy?” Eitel mumbled under his breath, huffing as he tried to project an aura of nonchalance. He flicked on the little lightbulb to the living room, illuminating everyone’s face with a sickly yellow light. “Don’t we have to look for the ghost room? Let’s split up.”
After a bit of looking around, you stumbled upon a room much colder the rest— the Master Bedroom. You took out your thermometer, the temperature plummeting before your eyes to below zero Fahrenheit. You couldn’t help but feel a flicker of fear— was this actually real?
“Your Royal Highnesses, you may want to see this,” you called, your hand already shaking from the unnatural cold. Their footsteps soon followed, with Victoria Louise holding a mysterious object in her hand, looking like an old and decrepit hand—the monkey’s paw. The cursed object the clipboard mentioned you might find. Surely, that thing wasn’t real?
“Was it always this cold in here?” Victoria Louise said with chattering teeth, tilting her head. With a sigh, Adalbert ended up offering his coat to her, if only to keep her slightly warmer.
The rest of you began to set up the items in the bedroom, such as the spirit book, ultraviolet light, DOTS projector, and a night vision camera. Wilhelm held the spirit box in his hand, turning off the light and the box on.
“How old are you?” Wilhelm asked, not really expecting an answer. He got slightly pale when he heard the answer “27” clearly through the box. “What kind of joke is this?” he cried incredulously, looking at the rest of you. “Someone must tell father this isn’t funny.”
“Don’t tell me you’re… scared, Willy,” Adalbert teased, resulting in a glare from the Kronprinz. “I could have sworn you said ghosts aren’t real! Are you not the eldest?”
Wilhelm blushed indignantly at that, while Eitel could only laugh at him behind his back, before soon joining in on belittling his older brother. “Why don’t you ask him some more questions?”
The Kronprinz puffed out his chest to seem braver, holding out the spirit box. “I never said I believed in them,” he huffed, before thinking about what he would say, before simply saying “Hans Müller, you’re a bitch ass—”.
It was proudly too, but before anyone could react— the lights started flickering. A loud groan was heard, then footsteps. You and Adalbert hid behind some boxes— bodies touching closely while Sissy hid in the closet. It was Wilhelm and Eitel who ended up running, the two screaming in fear.
“W-was zum Teufel ist das?!” Wilhelm gasped as he backed away into the kitchen, the ghost starting slow to his position, but once he got line of sight— it got faster, more killer intent in its pace.
“Oh my god, we’re going to die,” Eitel cried, already looking out of breath from his earlier sprint to the kitchen. He looked around, before hiding behind a plant, leaving Wilhelm to try and outrun something that could probably kill him with ease.
Wilhelm kept running for his life, feeling the spirits cold, dead breath over his neck. Then suddenly—nothing. The lights stop flickering, and everything seems to return to normal. Wilhelm was panting by then, keeling over and sucking in air.
“I really do this shit,” Wilhelm breathed, patting on his chest like he was really like that. In reality, he was scared pissless by the spirit. He almost lost his life out there!
Eitel peeked out from the plant, skin clammy and pale from fear. He let out a cry of relief at Wilhelm being clearly intact and alive. “Willy, you’re alive!” he breathed, the rosy color returning to his cheeks. “God, I thought he might be real…”
Meanwhile, in the squished space behind the boxes, you breathed in the scent of the naval officer, musky and all Adalbert. It made you blush, feeling heat rush to your cheeks and other places. You could feel every curve and ridge of his frame. What sparked you from this moment was the silence of Wilhelm’s screams and Sissy’s high pitched voice after leaving her hiding spot.
Wilhelm spotted you two, and let out a sigh of relief. “We are leaving. Now.” He spoke sternly, already leaving the building.
You and Adalbert looked at each other, as if utterly puzzled by their pallor and urge to leave. However, as you heard the screams, you two didn’t argue back as you left. Wilhelm notably got extra pale as he noticed the door locked and had to unlock it back.
On the ride back to the palace, you couldn’t help but shake your head and muse to yourself; looks like ghosts were real after all.
