CH10 Deleted Scenes

Hiya, hope your week is going well so far!!

I was going through some of the deleted scenes for CH10, and thought it would be a shame if they never saw the light of day, so I figured why not post them here instead?

Scenes with R

This is part of a scene that I started writing, but decided to scrap for CH10 since there really was no space for it. I'll probably use it in a future chapter, because the scene itself would be very involved.

Originally this was going to be a scene where the Crown would interact more with the water spirits during some ~magic therapy~ recommended by a priest:

“I’m unsure,” you admit to $rname, furrowing your brow in thought. “It felt calming, but I don’t know that it accomplished anything.” 

“The priest said it would take multiple sessions for your spirit to heal,” $rname says, and you notice $rthey keeps a carefully neutral tone.

“$rname, be honest with me.” You give $rthem a searching look. “Do you think this will truly help?”

Holding your gaze, $rname appears conflicted for a moment, before $rthey finally sighs. “I couldn’t say. Some people seem to take to it, but others don’t. In a few cases, I’ve even seen the spirits make things worse.” 

Another small moment with R, but mostly it's atmospheric flavor and a bit of lore. It was meant to be added somewhere in the timeskip, but I couldn't find a good moment for it. Might use it in a later chapter:

Once, you see a painting of Ashadūna that makes you pause to regard it. There are rays of sunlight drawn around the gold of her eyes as the rest of her face fades in the background, to the point where you can barely make out her features. 

Her long hair winds around her body as if a serpent—like the symbol of Rojan, a snake wrapped around a mountain—as she cradles a round, red fruit in her hands. A pomegranate? There are other figures dressed in plain robes kneeling on either side of her, in reverence and worship. 

“What do you think?”

You nearly startle at hearing $rname’s voice from beside you, not having noticed $rthem joining you as you had been too absorbed in the painting; something about it makes you uneasy. Studying it for a moment longer, you eventually mutter, “I can’t see her face.” 

$rname gives you a knowing look. “Does that bother you?” 

Frowning, you avert your gaze from Ashadūna’s sun-lit eyes and glance down at the fruit she cradles in her hands. It reminds you of your coronation vision. “Why a pomegranate?” 

$rname looks back at the painting. “I could not say, but it is an interesting choice on the artist’s part.” $crthey frowns a little as $rthey looks down the hallway. “What’s even more interesting is that this is the hallway the palace manifested.”

$crthey gives you a curious look. “What were you thinking about when you wandered over here?”

Scenes With A

Mind the spoilers for A's route here, if you haven't played it yet!

Here's a small tidbit of dialogue that I wrote on its own at first, but couldn't figure out where to fit it in. Also includes a little lore, and a romance specific dialogue line for a flirtatious!Crown:

“Is your eye color because of your father?”

$aname frowns slightly, and for a moment you worry you’ve offended $athem by mentioning Crown Piruz, but $athey seems more confused than anything when $athey replies.

“There is a theory along those lines, yes.” $aname answers you even though $athey seems taken aback by the sudden question. “A scholar told me about it once. Apparently the children of Crowns in the past have all had notable mixtures of colors in their eyes, sometimes unnatural ones. Mine are relatively plain in comparison to most.”

“There’s nothing plain about you.”

Next up is part of a scene from A's romance scene in the temple. I decided to shorten the conversation and cut a lot of this dialogue out of it because it felt too much like exposition and dragged the scene on for too long:

“What about your mother, Zhaleh?”

$aname spoke with such affection of her before, but what was her role in all this, if Piruz was making such decisions? Jewels of the Crown aren’t responsible for what the Crown chooses to do, since they have no power of their own, but choosing to remain with someone who ruled like Piruz did…

“She was—” $aname frowns. “She pretended not to see the things he did.”

Ah. “She wanted to keep her family.”

“That’s a generous way of describing it.” $aname averts $atheir eyes to $atheir lap. “Both of my parents, they became accustomed to luxury, to power. He and my mother both very rarely stepped foot outside the palace, and citizens were barred from entering.”

Completely severed from the rest of the Empire. You understand a bit better now how $aname also remained so ignorant of what $atheir father did as the Crown; no doubt $athey was sequestered to the palace as well.

“We lived in what was supposed to be the heart of the Empire, yet we were completely separated from it.” A scowl deepens on $aname’s face, yet through its resentment, you see its shame as well. Its guilt. “Arsur became nothing more than a throne to sit upon.”

You wonder for a moment if you should ask your next question, not wanting to dredge up more painful memories, but the way it comes pouring out of $aname… you get the sense $athey’s never really had the chance to talk to someone about any of this. Not truthfully.

“I know your father passed away from illness, but what about your mother?” you finally ask. “If you don’t mind speaking of it.”

The emotion in $aname’s face dims to something more controlled. Intentionally neutral.

“After my father passed away, Crown Ferzan asked my mother to be a diplomat for Arsur,” $athey explains. “People of Crownsblood can be made useful in that way; in countries with traditional monarchies, being of ‘royal blood’ carries more weight. And I suppose… part of her did feel remorseful, for looking away.

“She was in Arsekion, one of the Thalloi city-states, together with Ivian diplomats.” The more $aname speaks, the colder $atheir voice becomes—trying to reign $atheir feelings in, suppress them as best as $athey can. “It was during the height of the Ivian Revolt. They were hoping to negotiate with King Callipides about a potential ceasefire.”

You get a foreboding sense about how this story is going to end. “I take it that didn’t go well?”

There’s the slightest pause, before $aname responds.

“During the negotiations, she was killed, along with the Ivian diplomats and King Callipedes himself.” The loose fist $athey has on the table tightens, contrasting the indifferent look on $atheir face. “Opportunists in Arsekion, starting a coup. It inflamed the uprising in Ivia, and Ferzan was forced to intervene directly. A year later, he would be assassinated in Ivia himself.”

A spark that lit the match. An entire chain of events, spiraling out of control, and $aname’s family at the center of it.

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen at the time.”

To have lost both parents, first at eight years old, then at fourteen—it is so young. You’re a fully grown adult, and even you had a difficult time managing. You can’t imagine how $aname must have felt.

That was it!! There are more, fully written scenes that I scrapped from CH10, but I will be using them in their entirety in future chapters, so I can't show you those yet.

Hope you liked this little peek though ✨