A Heart Once Broken

Oh, how innocent was his smile. How he reached me with questions regarding the Empire. "Father!" he would say. "Father, how large is the Holy Land?" He asked me once. I remembered laughing with him as we swallowed fruits. I thought… that what I did for him was for the better. Apparently, I was wrong. Hearing the news of his brothers' untimely demise, my healthy, steadfast prince fell ill, very ill and now, he lays in an eternal slumber… right in front of me. I want to see his face for the last time, but I can't. Forever, will the guilt engulf me. In my sleep, I will remember the faces of my other sons whom I mercilessly murdered, and I can no longer face my wife or my concubines. All that exists now, is guilt and shame.