"Tell me, Kriska, what is it that you are scared of? And remember, I am asking about your fears, not your father's or anyone else's," Milize asked calmly.
Kriska left the wine bottle and plucked out her handkerchief from her pockets. She wiped away her tears and calmed herself down. Her eyes were red, and she was drunk.
"My father called me a few months ago, and he wanted to discuss something significant with me. Captain Levi and Captain Vincent were present in the room, and there they told about what Yuuka had done during the war, and they're worried about what he might do next."
Milize listened carefully to Kriska's words, and gears ground inside her mind as she listened.
"Captain Levi told me Yuuka was building the attack on you as a suicide one. He claimed to Levi that all seven thousand troops fighting were expendable for the win and that he made multiple risky attempts; he killed Britannia's commander in cold blood, rallied his army through a shower of fire arrows, and challenged you to a fight at the port. "
" —Kriska?" Milize swiped up another glass of wine up her throat. She was about to complain loudly, and her throat was dry.
"Are you really worried because your husband is leading a war?! Each world you told me about was how war is unpredictable, and do you think I would not be ready to sacrifice everything to defend that last push? Life is not a fairy tale, Kriska. You are not a kid to hide war's truth; if you hide behind your walls and weep, nothing comes but false hopes. Don't use the illusion of the stories to tell Arata for real..."
Slap
Kriska's body took control of his mind, her tongue and hand went hard as she slapped Milize.
She could've blocked the hand, but Milize's heart and body didn't allow her. It felt like she deserved that. Kriska was angry and crying again, but more worried than frustrated than the last time.
"Don't say my daughter's name from your damn mouth! What do you know?! Huh! I have not seen war! I saw my mother hanged in public, and my father spent more time with a person that I knew nothing about than me, and then I forced myself to marry him even if I didn't want to. Soon, I came to love him, but what happens next? He leaves for war. All I have is my daughter close to me, I will tell her fairy tales, and she will live in one. Don't you dare drag her name into this! Or I might want what Yuuka plans."
"What does he plan to do?" Milize realized it was the future Kriska was scared of.
"Do you know why he keeps you alive?! Even after you refuse to work for him, do you think that Yuuka means to sway you over time? Then you are a fool. He plans to end it all for once when he reunites the five kingdoms. Levi said that a few soldiers heard him telling a foreign soldier that everybody who started this war would go to hell after it ended."
"He does mean to capture you and your Shin for now, but after the war ends, he will kill everyone—you, your sister, your sister, Shin, my father, Lady Nayla, Diksha, Lucius, everyone! He will hang everyone, including himself, to end the fighting for good."
"...." Milize was scared; death never felt so powerful.
She felt a scythe hanging on every leader and a clock attached to the rope.
Tick, tick, tick went the clock, and death was approaching. She felt so scared to be the first to break apart her kingdom.
"What have I started?! How do you know this?!" Milize spoke anxiously now.
"I didn't believe my father's words, but they were scary. So, I played the story as he said, attempting to bring you to his side. Yesterday, I came to Lynx to meet you today. I went to his office and checked."
"... he was sending my father orders to send forces and execute by hanging all of your rebels that are hiding in the woods. Execution for all those who don't surrender and those who do will be sold to other nations as slaves. All because they were taking no peace offer that he posed to them."
"...."
"You know nothing. All of you are at war! But I know what it feels like to hold your flesh in your arms—your blood. Raising a child right has more things to deal with than your sword clashes. You know nothing about how scary it is when your kid says they will fight if their father should ever fall. You know nothing, warlords and warmongers, feeding families to your pride and hunger for power!"
Slap This time, Milize didn't even try to stop the slap.
"Remember, Milize. If anything happens to my daughter while I live,. I'll grant none of the legends the mercy of the rope. I'll be a warmonger, deadlier than I expect Yuuka might hope to become. Because this one won't go."
Kriska quit her shouting and sat on her chair. She had no tears left, only frustration and anger. She reached for the stew she had left unfinished. Food helped her rage calm down.
Milize straightened her hair and took a deep breath, she grabbed the bottle of wine and began slowly pouring the red wine into her glass.
"Listen to the story carefully, Kriska. I was taught by Foal Zestus just like Lucius Artorious, but we were never in the same place, and Foal guaranteed that. Just like me and Yuuka, Yuuka and Diksha, Lucius and Diksha. Each and every one of us apprentices was never brought close. Your mentors knew each other to the bone, but we don't. There must be a reason for that?
"I always wondered why it was like that? Yuuka must have reasoned that we were separated so that no comradery forms among us, and we fought for our mentor's cause and not for the people. This assumes that separating the kingdom was already planned by them. If Yuuka believes this, it is clear why he is planning to kill everyone. He assumes all apprentices are the shadows of our power-hungry mentors. All because he doesn't know them clearly." Milize explained the vicious cycle of misunderstandings that was going on.
Slowly, Milize dragged the glass of red wine she filled across the table and offered it to Kriska.
"Remember, I will help you and you alone. Your father still doesn't have my mercy. He will get my justice one way or the other."
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