Song recommendation: "I did a stupid thing last night" (https://youtu.be/kB4k0Ti4_sE)
The court was in session. The ministers stood in front of the Emperor arguing amongst themselves. Suddenly, the doors burst open. The wizard strode into the hall unceremoniously. The minister's revolted and disapproving mutters filled the room. All the while, the Emperor sat upon the throne with an unflinching stare without saying a word.
"Grand wizard! What is the meaning of this?" Exclaimed one of the minister's. He was a Duke of some importance and was a long-standing critic of the wizard. Those who shared his exaggerated outrage rallied:
"Who does he think he is?" They remarked under their breath.
However, the wizard continued down the aisle till he fell under the Emperor's eye. With a look of supreme satisfaction, he thrust the demon lord to the Emperor's feet.
The crowd burst into chatter. Yet at the wave of the Emperor's hand, everyone grew silent. The wizard dragged the demon lord up by the hair so the Emperor could inspect. Clover's eye was bruised and the blood set under their nose.
"As promised," the wizard addressed the court.
For a while, the Emperor didn't say anything. He looked down with an unchanged expression as the rest of the court waited apprehensively.
"It's been a while, Clover," the Emperor professed.
Clover shrugged, "Has it? Now that you mention it, you do look old,"
The Emperor didn't rise to the provocation. Instead, he cooly stated:
"You are charged with crimes against the Empire. In accordance with our laws and on account of you being half-human you will stand trial. Until that time, then you will be confined to the royal dungeon for questioning. Do you have anything to say?"
Clover chuckled lightly, "No."
The Emperor waved his hand once more. The guards went to relieve the wizard of the Demon Lord. However, he followed a few paces behind, determined to see the demon lord all the way to the dungeons. As he left the room, a hush fell over the court. The doors closed behind the baffled faces of the court and the piercing eyes of the Emperor.
They descended down into the dungeons. It was dark, scarcely lit by candles for no sunlight could penetrate its depths. They passed a series of barred rooms, then coming to the last, the demon Lord was thrown inside.
The doors were slammed shut. The wizard stood victoriously on the other side of the bar room. Clover slumped back against the exposed brick wall. A slight smile crept across their face.
"What's so funny?" The wizard interrogated.
"You. All these years just to kill me. What a waste!" The Demon Lord began to laugh maliciously.
The wizard was quiet for a moment.
"You would see it that way. All those people you killed meant nothing to you, but they were my friends. I did this for them. What would you know about that kind of sacrifice?"
The demon Lord came to their feet with a start. Their hands wrapped around the bars violently, their eyes alight with a devious glare. The wizard flinched.
"War is war. You were a knight before, you know just as well as I do. How many demons did you kill? In a life as long as mine, how many of my friends do you think the Empire killed?" Clover's gave a dark but mirthless smile.
"The truth is I'm not sorry. I'm not a hypocrite like the rest of you. How cleanly you humans can detach yourself from any shred of guilt. Yet, you want me to remember every single human I killed? You're all just greedy clawing animals to me,"
The Grand wizard stared back with a blank expression. "What about the Cirillium wizard? Do you remember him?"
"Ah, there it is," Clover smirked, "The real reason you're so angry."
The wizard's features hardened.
"You're right," Clover went on, "He was different,"
"But you still killed him." The wizard stated in a low voice.
"And yet," Clover tilted their head to one side, "Why do I get the distinct impression, it's not me your angry at?"
The wizard's eyes widened. He furiously stormed out of the dungeon without looking back.
At the same time, Ace was at the top of the stairs leading down to the dungeon. The doors were guarded by the royal knights and an argument had broken out.
"Let me through!" He demanded.
The two knights barred the entrance. Without so much as a glance in Ace's direction, one said:
"The Emperor has commanded that no one may enter,"
Ace grew red in the face, "I don't care!" He exclaimed, taking a step forward. The instant he did, one of the knights unsheathed his sword and held it to Ace's throat. Ace recoiled in surprise.
"Step back!" the knight barked.
In the midst of the commotion, neither party heard the slow ascent from below, until the wizard reached the top of the stairs. He bade the knight lower his sword. Ace glared furiously at the wizard. However, the wizard ignored the provocation and with a slight smile said,
"Go if you wish. It doesn't matter now,"
Ace gritted his teeth as he flew past down into the dungeons. He reached the bowels of the palace within moments. His eyes searched rapidly through the long drawn out corridor. It was filled with dark barred rooms. The occupants of which remained deathly quiet. Only a dank dripping from the ceiling pervaded the silence.
Ace kept going, his sense of dread rising the further he got. It was all too familiar and increasingly claustrophobic. The dark passage twisting and turning, seemed to go narrower and narrower. At last, he reached the last cell. His whole body shook as he laid eyes on his master.
Clover was against the wall, not moving, their head faced down. Ace wrapped his hands around the bars in a blind passion.
"Lord Clover?" his voice trembled as he repeated the words several times.
"Didn't you hear me before?" Clover coughed, still not meeting Ace's gaze, "What could you possibly want now?"
Ace breathed a sigh of relief. He knelt down patiently at the foot of the barred cell.
"Master, I'm so sorry! I didn't know this was going to happen..."
"Gods! What do I have to do to get rid of you?" Clover interrupted with a sharp inhale. A hand came up to their face but still remained turned away from Ace.
"Master," Ace entreated, "Please just let me explain!"
"Just get out. I don't want to talk to you," was the reply.
Ace remained firmly planted with his eyes on Clover. He bit on his lip to steady himself.
"Will you at least look at me," he faltered.
However, Clover turned against the wall.
"Just leave me be."
Ace dashed away a tear that had involuntarily fallen from his eye. He retreated from the dungeons. It took several days before he was able to muster the courage to venture down again.
During that time, the day of the trial was set. In less than a week, the demon Lord would be brought to open trial. Ace wrote to the sword saint but he feared it was too late. Word had spread throughout the capital. The rumours and chatter were nonstop.
The most despicable facet being the debate on where a demon lord should be granted the rights of a human. Open court meant that the culprit would be brought to a public civic house. For this reason, the whole nation had become engrossed with the case.
Ace was forced to hear all sorts of things about his Master, none of them true. It had spiralled out of his control. Each day, he racked his brain to find the means to undo what he had done.
He desperately wanted someone to talk to but that too had been a dead-end. Since his return, he hadn't seen sister Leila. Then it hit him. She was the one he told. Otherwise, how did the wizard know he was going to leave the capital in the first place. After this realization, Ace never looked for her again.
As for Bird, Ace himself was too angry to speak to him. It wasn't a matter of whether Bird had been telling the truth or not. Simply, the association with the wizard evoked such rage that he couldn't bring himself to call on him.
Even when, late one night, he had heard a light rapping at his door. Bird had softly asked if he was awake. However, Ace lay still, staring up at the black ceiling. He was too angry to move. Still, no matter how much he might blame their deception for the situation, the inescapable truth remained.
The one he was most angry with was himself. After several sleepless nights passed, he decided to go back to the dungeons. There he stood quietly waiting to see how the demon lord fared, or if they would even speak to him.
"Are you listening, master?" He asked softly.
Clover remained with their back to him. All his entreaties were met with silence. Finally, drawing in a heavy breath, he slid down against the bars.
"You were right," Ace sniffed, "I've never been in love before. I don't know what it is, I thought if I just kept trying, I could force it to happen. I thought if I could just be at your side it would be enough. When you showed an interest in me, I admit I deluded myself into thinking you held me in some special regard. I knew it wasn't true but I pursued it anyway.
It's because I'm greedy. I know myself, I'm not...I'm not a good person. I wanted it so badly I ended up only showing you the worst in myself. You thought I was reaching down to pull you up? It's the other way around.
This is all my fault, but I don't know how to fix it," Ace's voice faltered, "I don't know what to do. Please, tell me. Tell me what to do,"
There was silence. Clover didn't respond. Ace felt a lump in his throat. He quickly rose before it embellished into more pointless displays of emotion. He hastened out of the dungeon. His rush was so engulfing, he didn't see another person descending the stairs until he crashed into them.
He lost his balance and stumbled back. A hand suddenly caught hold and balanced him. He stared up in surprise.
"Ace," the sword saint smiled sadly.
Ace's eyes widened, he drew in a shallow breath as the emotions rallied under the gaze of a friendly face. His expression told everything it needed to. The Sword Saint patted him on the back knowingly.
"I know. I know, "Albaric soothed, "come. We'll go somewhere and talk,"
They returned to the palace and took a seat in the gardens.
"What have I done?" Ace said, breaking the silence, "I led the wizard right to Lord Clover...and now everything is ruined,"
"I heard what happened," Albaric's expression darkened, "but this isn't your fault, Ace."
"But Lord Clover..." Ace started.
"It's not your fault," Albaric interceded, "and more importantly, It's not over yet,"
"Bird said the outcome of the trial is set,"
"Not if I have anything to do with it!" Albaric said with conviction, "they're going to try and blame Clover for the massacres in the north. But we both know Clover wasn't responsible. I can make an argument for keeping the demon lord alive if Clover agrees to help us find the ones responsible, "
"You would do that? But I thought you hated Lord Clover,"
Albaric smiled, "When my sister was killed in the war, I stopped caring about doing the right thing because it was so much easier to let things slide. But then with one thing after the other, I started to become someone that I didn't like.
The truth is I left the Empire to wallow in self-pity. It wasn't till Clover brought you that I realised I had anything left to offer. You were right when you said I thought this title was a burden. It has been, but I want it to mean something again.
I'm not doing this for Clover. I want YOU to see Ace. The human world isn't just full of liars and hypocrites. There are people struggling to be good. I'm not any different and neither are you."