Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Leanne was thoroughly fed up with the situation she was thrown into. In the end, she was starting to flip out.

"Since your victory's already assured, me staying on your side or not is irrelevant, your highness. As I've said, I'm worth nothing in this situation. Even if I were to reveal everything I know to the Duke, he would still die by the assassin's knife."

"No, no. That's not how the prophecy works. If I were to act stubbornly and tried to make sure the prophecy didn't happen at any cost, I could do it. In fact, many of my actions can lead to a swift end to my campaign against the Duke. If I were a fool, I would've bet everything on the prophecy and simply done nothing. But I know better than that. I need to struggle. I need to survive until the Duke's death.

"For that, I need you."

The king's voice was soft. His eyes looked sad, almost hurt. 

Leanne did not buy it. He was just sad he was losing a capable hand. Leanne tried her best to not appear capable, but the king pushed her into situations where she needed to perform to survive safely.

'Never should've come to the palace…' Leanne thought with lament. 

What was Albin going to do? In fact, he should've half-expected Leanne to not go through with her promise.

'Never should've accepted the king's offer…' 

By working for the king, Leanne only learned things she was better off not knowing. The Otherworlders, the king's struggle against the ever-growing influence of the Duke, the desperate situation in the South, and Evin's true nature. She even started to see how differently the Chairman started to act. 

Before, the man only looked like a lazy, uninspired High-mage, who was exiled to the North. He was casual with everyone, and was even tolerant of his subordinates belittling him occasionally. But now, he was becoming more and more creepy.

Ignorance was truly bliss. 

'Sigh… I never should've come back here once again…'

Leanne felt that her life lately was filled with regrets. She thought a lot about what her problem was. And surprisingly, despite how much she tended to overthink things, she managed to come to a pretty reasonable conclusion. It boiled down to her being unable to say no. 

Always letting others drag her around and pull her into whatever thing they're trying to make happen. Even if what they were doing was something admirable, Leanne never felt good about those accomplishments, as she felt she was forced to work without her consent. 

Even if she stayed with the king and he managed to emerge victorious, she was sure she wasn't going to feel any better. 

"Your highness," she spoke calmly. "Please let me leave." 

The room was silent. After sighing deeply, the king spoke in a low tone.

"Have you guessed what the Duke's plan is?"

Leanne felt another wave of bullshit coming at her way.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Your highness, please do not waste your time with such dramatics. You have a campaign to win."

"True that," the king laughed coldly. "Then I'll tell you all about it. Even if you have other guesses, that's fine. It's not like I know how the duke thinks in the first place."

He finally stood up from behind the stack of documents he was reading.

"First, have you noticed the strange atmosphere in the city? Although the war with the South is going terribly, no one among the citizens seem to care much about it. Odd, isn't it? Even though we've started to lose more and more fights against the Myrmis ever since we lost our two ketricite factories."

Leanne learned about these losses through the king. Without this channel, she didn't know when she would hear about it. The information was tightly being kept secret so the kingdom's people wouldn't panic.

The king then approached his window and pulled away the curtain. The city of Arcvallen stretched beyond the window. 

"Look. The capital of the kingdom, the very symbol of prosperity… I could almost hear some citizen praising my name," the king's eyes dropped. "But in the next year or so, this city will be overrun by Myrmis."

Leanne struggled to contain her shock. Even with how badly the war was going… for them to reach the capital in such a short time…

"Sounds impossible, doesn't it?" the king smiled sadly. "But with how the war is going, it's only a matter of time now. And with the duke's constant interference with the flow of information, the southerners are allowed to come to our heart in such a short time."

"You mean the duke's trying to lose the war on purpose? Why?"

"My name rings loudest in this doomed city. The golden boy of the late king. The one who truly understood the legendary Roland Arcwall's vision. Who else but him could bring about such prosperity?" king Seth laughed self-depreciatingly. "In contrast, the duke's name is almost non-existent. Alt Leland? Who? Ah, the Duke of the East. What does he do? Trade with Tower City? That's admirable, I suppose.

"But when the Southerners sweep through our nation, ravaging everything in their path, it would be the silent duke of the east who would save the day. You see, Alt Leland's the one who's most prepared for the war. Do you think he simply sits on all that gold he makes? No… You might even say that he's overprepared for the occasion. After all, he needs to win back a war that's all but lost.

"The people would revere him as a hero. In contrast, I'll only be remembered as a frivolous king who neglected the war so much, it appeared on his doorstep without anyone knowing. It would be easy to guess who they decide would be the best candidate for king is. Romantic, isn't it? The slave that refused to let go of his three-letter name becoming king of the West… Me, I'll rot in the duke's dungeons, tortured until my weak and fragile body finally breaks down.

"But… all that doesn't really pertain to you. What matters to you is your safety," the king smiled. "You must think that if you simply pull yourself away from the situation, you'll live in peace. Perhaps you'll be right… But, the duke has me in his dungeons, remember? Knowing his paranoia, he would surely ask me what I know about people who want his death."

With realization dawning on Leanne, her eyes turned to a slit. 

"Of course, as the brave man I am, I'll act strong at first. 'I would never give away my people!'. But… torture isn't something a human can endure. Least of all a pampered royalty like me. I'd spill everything. The names of everyone who worked under me, their locations and weaknesses, the people I planned to recruit…"

'Disgusting worm…'

"But soon, I'll run out of things to say. At that point, I'd start making things up. Since I know that talking would spare me from pain, I would talk as much as possible. 'Nola hates you to the core, she would definitely try to kill you!', 'My children will surely take revenge for me!', or 'Leanne fears you so greatly, she would try to kill you the moment she sees a chance!' "

'Eat fucking shit…'

"Lea, your fate was already sealed with us the moment you came inside the palace," the king shook his head. The man had the gall to look sad about it all. "We're all dealt lots whether we want them or not. The only choice we have is to either accept them or deny them."

'We'll see who's laughing when I shove the lot you dealt me into your own sorry mouth.'

*****