Like a sinner giving confession before god, I began reciting all the countless evil acts I’d perpetrated with my own hands. But although the man listening was easily beautiful enough to be a god, on the inside he was the same as Heinreid—the same as me. Just a filthy partner in crime. He wasn’t going to pass down the judgment I deserved for my sins. He just took it all in as I delivered my confession—sometimes losing himself in nostalgia, sometimes laughing like a little kid.
“I imagined we had exhausted every possible villainy over these eight years,” he said, chuckling softly. “Yet memories never lose their luster, do they? My heart leaps at the mere recollection of it all...” He stared down at me. “You don’t seem amused in the slightest, however.”
Those last words set something pounding inside my chest. Hidden underneath all of Heinreid’s evil, my own heart was swollen to bursting.
“Yeah, because it isn’t fucking funny.”
By the time my thoughts caught up and rang warning bells, the dam had already broken. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
What’d you say? I don’t seem amused? Why the hell would I be?!
“What’s fun about this, huh? You torment people weaker than you, you trample over their lives, you listen to their screams—how the hell can you and Heinreid laugh and smile at it all?!”
“Heinreid.”
Eberhart got up from the throne. He was slowly approaching me, but I didn’t have room left in me to care.
“You know what you’re doing is wrong, don’t you? So why can’t you think it through and stop yourself? Look at this damn country! Your government’s about to collapse! You’re not an idiot, are you? You should’ve known things would end up this way sooner or later, so why—?!”
There was a loud thwack—heat spread through my right cheek. Eberhart had swung his arm in a fierce backhand slap. As I stumbled from the blow, he kicked my feet out from under me, and I toppled to the ground. Before I could stand back up, a foot came thudding down to grind my head into the floor.
“Enough of this pathetic display. You disgrace yourself.”
His voice was colder and more colorless than I’d ever heard before. An aura of absolute dominance weighed down on me, robbing me of my words.
Above my head, I heard a single sigh.
“I received a ludicrous report claiming that you were no longer Heinreid, and when I went to see for myself, I did feel something amiss. But nevertheless, if even a fraction of his evil remained within you, I would love it all the same, and still it would bring me joy—or so I hoped.”
The pressure on my head grew. The pain was so intense that it felt like he was about to drive his boot straight through my skull. A groan trickled from my mouth.
“‘Why?’ you ask. ‘How?’ How obnoxious. What could I possibly know of Heinreid’s mind? The nature of his venom was utterly beyond my comprehension—that is precisely why he enthralled me so. I wished to witness where his path would lead, even if everything I hold should fall to ruin. Need I any reason for such intoxication? Though I still know nothing of how he became the man he was...”
Eberhart sighed again.
“Whose lips drank away the venom I loved so dearly...?” he muttered to himself.
I heard a hint of something sad and lonely in his voice. It didn’t resonate with me at all, though. Was that voice reaching the Heinreid inside me? My cells weren’t rejoicing the way they did when I committed evil acts, so I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know.
“Three days,” Eberhart declared. “That is the time I shall grant you. Spend the remainder of your life as you please.”
The boot pressing down on my head finally lifted, and I slowly sat up. Before I got to my feet, I raised my face to see those mismatched eyes staring coldly down at me.
“May I return to my estate in the meantime?”
“Very well. Do as you will. I shall send an escort to collect you when your time comes. You’re welcome to flee if you wish, but if you do, I shall visit unimaginable torment upon your duchy in your place.”
Did suicide also count as “fleeing”? Not that it really mattered. Eberhart had said those three days were the remainder of my life—my destination was the same either way.
I stood up, turned my back on the tyrant, and departed the throne room. When I pushed open the doors myself and stepped out into the hall, Craig was waiting there to meet me. As he saw me, his eyes widened in shock.
Oh, right—Eberhart hit me pretty hard. It might’ve left a bruise already.
“Your Grace...what happened in there?”
I ignored Craig’s question and strode straight past him. Eberhart and I hadn’t talked about anything important anyway... Or, no, maybe we had? Heinreid was about to disappear—from a nationwide perspective, that was absolutely fantastic news.
I headed straight out of the palace with Craig at my heels. Outside, I gave my orders to the coachman and the guards.
“I don’t need the carriage—it’ll take too long. I’ll return on horseback. All of you, go wherever you please.”
“Your Grace—”
“I don’t need any guards either. You’re all a nuisance. I will require a horse, though... I’ll take Craig’s, I suppose.”
“Your Grace!”
I waved away the confused guards, but as I tried to mount the horse, a firm hand gripped my arm.
“What’s going on, Your Grace? Please explain! What happened between you and His Majesty?”
“Craig Bauer...”
Here we go. Time for me to settle my last bit of unfinished business.
Mustering all the wrath in my body, I glared up at the insolent guard who’d dared to touch his master. Craig flinched for an instant, and I took the opening to shake off his hand.
“I’ve had quite enough of your disrespect. Today, as of this moment...you are dismissed from your duty.”
“What?”
“Well, as long as Count Bauer remains in my liege’s custody, I suppose you aren’t exactly free to go. Still, I’m quite relieved to be rid of you.”
I’d delivered the firing out of nowhere, and I hadn’t given any clear reason. As pink slips went, it was pretty ridiculous. But this was far from the first time I’d charged innocent people with bullshit offenses in my life as Heinreid. Consistency really was important—acting on irrational whims was perfectly normal for me, so it didn’t come across as unnatural at all.
But even though I’d just handed Craig a golden opportunity to be free of Heinreid, he clearly wasn’t on board.
Look, it’s not like I’m scheming anything, okay? Oh, actually...
This would be our last time seeing each other, so I decided to give Craig a tip-off he absolutely couldn’t ignore.
“Here’s your final order,” I whispered to him. “Go to the bar at the end of Sixth Avenue, right this minute.”
Sixth Avenue was where I’d caught a glimpse of a figure in a blue robe. And not far from where they’d disappeared, there was a little hole-in-the-wall bar tucked away down an alley.
Craig’s eyes widened a little at my quiet directions.
Shit. If I say any more, I’m going to screw something up.
“I’m leaving now. I forbid you to follow me—is that clear?”
With those words, I mounted the horse and put the palace behind me. I rode away, pretending not to hear the man calling out after me as he came back to his senses.