Chapter 13 Preview, Part 4 (R and D)

I've been working on more LI specific scenes over the past week, so these two seemed good ones to share! The R one is specifically for their romance route, while D's is a scene that is plot-dependent (you'll see what I mean), but of course D romancers get a special variation of it as well 👀

“This is a pressing matter,” the official insists. “As we all well know, $rtitle $rname never received a formal education at a distinguished school. Instead, all $rtheir tutelage came only from Lady Zerya and the teachers she chose—”

“What is wrong with that?” the Voice of the Crown demands. “Lady Zerya was a wise Sorcerer—”

“She failed to find the Crown, and Crown Ferzan was assassinated under her watch!”

“The Crown’s Sorcerer is an advisor, not a guard!”

“That does not change the fact that it casts doubt on her competence, let alone whether she was capable of producing a worthy successor.” The official redirects their gaze back to you—not that you have been watching them in turn.

No, your eyes have been focused on $rname, $rtheir posture frozen in place and $rtheir expression entirely blank as $rthey has silently followed the debate with one side casually disparaging $rthem as well as $rtheir mentor. One $rthey now has a complicated relationship with, after all that was revealed.

Your heart aches at the sight: you can’t imagine what must be going through $rtheir head having to listen to all of this. If only you could reach out your hand to $rthem, to comfort $rthem in some way, but such a display would not be taken well by the court. In the end, the best thing you can do in such circumstances is to put a stop to this ridiculous argument.

“$rname’s skill in magic is irrefutable,” you interject, silencing the court. “I am certain there are many respectable magi and scholars who would attest to that.”

“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty,” the official responds. “$crtheir skill in magic was not in question, but the Crown’s Sorcerer is a position of import to the governance of the Empire. For $rthem to be absent, without any justification given to the Imperial Court—”

///

“Do you know how many I have lost under my command over the years?” $dname says, and you fall silent. “Hundreds. Some directly, some indirectly, but ones I bear responsibility for all the same.”

“Because of choices you’ve made?”

“Of course.” $dname’s eyes briefly lower to the ground, hands folding behind $dtheir back. “Countless families have had to grieve the loss of their loved ones because of mistakes that I have made. Because of errors in my judgment.”

“How do you keep going?” you say, even while you’re afraid to hear the answer. “Knowing that?”

“To do otherwise would be to betray the trust they placed in me.” $dname looks at you, $dtheir gaze an aged one. “It would be to abandon my duty, to give up on Arsur, and to admit that all the lives lost were ones lost in vain. Does that sound right to you?”

It doesn’t, but neither does it sound right to you that others should die because of you.

“Those soldiers chose to follow me,” $dname continues when you remain silent. “Just as Yekbûn chose to place her faith in you. They were not puppets who lived and died only by our decisions. As much as we must strive to do better, the their deaths should be for their murderers to bear. Do not absolve them of their guilt by taking it upon yourself.”

Something about those words finally gets through to you: here you are tormenting yourself for Yekbûn’s death, but while you carry responsibility for it, <em>you</em> were not the one who took up your blade and drove it through her chest.

Rather than wallowing in remorse, isn’t it better to focus on finding the one who killed her, and who even used another person as a tool to do it? It might not be enough to earn her family’s forgiveness, but at least then, you can prevent others from meeting the same fate.

IF D IS ROMANCED

As you ponder this, feeling a metaphorical weight lightening from your shoulder, you feel a physical one bearing down upon it as $dname’s hand gently—tentatively—settles on top of it.

“If the weight of it becomes too much for you to carry alone, then share it with me,” $dname murmurs, your eyes widening in surprise, even that softest of touches enough to make your heart hammer against your chest. “Your sins are my sins. We shall carry them together.”

Both of A's character snippets should be uploaded sometime this coming week 💖