“What…do you mean, Your Majesty?” Albert asks, bewildered.
“The saint must carry the weight of this kingdom on her back. As the boy said, idealism alone is not enough. Sometimes, one must face reality head-on. Liz, you are purehearted and kind. You do not know impurity. Believe me, I understand how you wouldn’t want to see the filthy underbelly of governance. That’s why I allowed Alicia early admittance to the Academy of Magic. To steer you toward pragmatism. I ordered her to speak harshly to you to make that happen—”
“Why did you do such a thing?!” Albert yells, interrupting the king. He’s irate.
Come to think of it…Albert used to love Alicia. He was very protective of her.
“I thought you boys were well aware—Alicia is a genius. She could use magic at age eleven, her physical aptitude is beyond the norm, and she is highly intelligent. Alicia was the perfect person to stand in opposition to the saint.”
“How could you be so self-serving? My sister is not a tool for the crown to exploit.”
“I acknowledge what I did was cruel.”
“Didn’t you oppose his plan, Father? Alicia was so young. Didn’t either of you stop to consider how this might have emotionally scarred her?”
Arnold is standing silently, ashamed.
“So all the things Alicia said…it was by order of the crown?” Eric squeaks.
That’s probably not entirely true…but close enough. Wait—won’t revealing this rob Alicia of her ability to become a villainess?
The way I see it, she’s about as much of a villainess as a butterfly. It’s all in her head.
……Still, I feel a little sorry for Alicia. She worked so hard all these years to become a villainess, but now the puppet-master king looks like the true villain.
And just when she got herself exiled, too…
When she gets home and discovers the king has become a bigger villain than her, she might blow her top… Hang in there, Alicia.
“Why didn’t you put a stop to her banishment, then?!” Albert’s voice booms.
Indeed, no matter how badly a prince wants to exile somebody, if the king is against it, it’s nearly impossible.
The king’s gaze slowly drifts toward Duke. Everyone in the room is confounded, and Duke hardly flinches.
……The poor king. His son’s a handful.
If there’s any moment to come clean about his amnesia, it’s now. He already got Alicia exiled, after all. With everyone’s eyes on him, Duke finally opens his mouth.
“I sent Alicia to Laval as a spy, under the guise of exile. My amnesia was a farce to facilitate that. It was Alicia’s idea to leave the kingdom, and I have high hopes for what her mission will bring our kingdom.”
Liz Cather’s eyes go wide in a mixture of shock and hurt. Who can blame her? Duke and Alicia’s close bond is being rubbed in her face.
“B-but Liz’s way of thinking is correct,” Gale says, adjusting his glasses after a faltering pause.
“If you want to build a peaceful future, you need more than empty platitudes.”
I stare right at Liz Cather. She remains silent.
“Ali is a spy…,” Alan murmurs.
“I had no idea… And, Duke, you never had amnesia?” Curtis sneers.
“I needed a suitable reason to exile a daughter of the nobility.”
Oh, Duke. Don’t come crying to me when Alicia chews you out later.
I know Alicia absolutely did not want her exile plot exposed…but I suppose it’s okay as long as the truth stays confined to this small circle.
Duke is a schemer at heart, after all. Day by day, the villainess he loves is becoming Durkis’s hero. If they became the next king and queen…I would be proud to call this kingdom home.
“Why did you entrust the spy mission to Alicia, Duke?” Finn asks sweetly.
“She’s going to start a revolution.” Duke smirks. His expression sends a shiver of fear down my spine.
“A revolution?”
“That’s right. For a major empire, we hardly have any dealings with the outside world, and our domestic governance is deficient in just about every way.”
Saying all that in front of your father, Duke? Talk about grit.
“So what are the rest of us supposed to do to aid in this revolution?” Finn asks, undaunted.
“Form and lead task forces. You’ve all trained in the sword and studied for that very purpose. If you want to live out the rest of your days in mediocrity, be my guest. If, however, you want to use your powers to make a difference, then join me. I’ll give you the opportunity to make that happen.”
……Duke is starting to seem kinglier than the king.
“And if it results in battle?” Finn asks.
“We mustn’t have war!” Liz Cather butts in.
Okay, Liz Cather, it takes guts to deliver that line at that moment. I’ll give credit where it’s due.
This is the first time you’ve genuinely impressed me.
“Who said anything about a war?” Duke frowns in annoyance. Piercing his cool facade after he maintained it this whole time was quite a feat by Liz Cather.
“As long as nations have militaries, there is the possibility of war. If both sides abolished their militaries, war would be no more.”
“And will you go personally to all the other nations and talk them into this?”
“Didn’t you say something similar in the past, Duke? You said that wars over greed or difference in perspective always entangle innocent people and result in major loss of life. You said repeating that cycle was beyond foolish! Did you not mean any of that?!”
Huh? Your logic is off. Pay attention, Liz Cather.
“Militaries are essential,” Albert cuts in softly.
Whoa, Albert is challenging Liz Cather’s ideas for the first time.
“Albert? Why are you against me, too? I thought you were against violence. Violence begets nothing but violence.”
“If everyone in the world had a pure heart like you, Liz, I would agree with you.”
There’s a gloomy catch in Albert’s voice. There might never be war if everyone lived blessed lives and wanted for nothing. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but everyone is capable of greed. And this greed births the desire to stand above others and revel in a sense of superiority.
“I’ll never betray you, Liz,” Eric says firmly.
Um, I don’t think Albert betrayed her, exactly…
“Your way of thinking is my ideal!”
Isn’t your devotion a little too strong?
Zealots who blindly believe in their gurus are prepared to sacrifice their own lives. Eric is drowning deeper and deeper in his hopeless infatuation.
“I’m not exactly opposed to war,” I say.
Everyone looks at me in surprise.
“Of course I don’t want war, but if it’s to return stolen dignity or to defend my honor, I would gladly fight.”
Had I stayed locked up in Roana Village forever, enduring endless days of cruel treatment, I surely would have burned with vengeance to assassinate the king. Meeting Alicia helped me escape to the outside world, but the resentment of all the other villagers still there continues to smolder.
“Who would you fight?” Liz Cather asks.
“I would fight every last one of you,” I answer without hesitation. “And so would lots of people in my village.”
“And what village is that…?”
“Roana.”
The air freezes. Only Duke, Henri, and the heads of the Great Five knew my true identity. Naturally, everyone else thought I was some stray peasant Alicia picked up off the street.
“They punched me, they kicked me, and they beat me within an inch of my life…but I had to keep crawling and pulling myself back up to survive. That’s the kind of place it was. Nobody would ever save me.”
Liz Cather is speechless.
“She rescued me from that village when I was on the brink of death. She held out a helping hand to a girl with burns that should have been fatal. She gave one of her own eyes to an old man who had none… And now Roana Village is being reborn. Now, who do you think set all that in motion?”
Everyone is still, their eyes wide. I guess this is news to everyone.
Whoops. I overshared. Praising Alicia like this is only going to make them mad at her.
I’m sorry, Alicia. But the idea of everyone thinking of you as a fool makes me sick.
Alicia…I know you say you want to be a villainess, but it’s okay to revel in your triumphs now and then. I need you to know just how amazing you are and how deeply I revere you.
“That’s why she wears an eye patch…” Albert’s voice is shaking.
Yeah, her eye patch really does stand out… I doubt anyone thinks it’s because she’s missing an eye.
Both Gramps and I never imagined Alicia would give him one of her eyes.
“And to whom did she give her eye?” the king asks.