Strangely enough, clambering across rooftops, running with the wind in my hair, leaping from building to building… It’s weirdly calming. Of all my experiences, this one makes me feel the most supernaturally powered. I’m like spider-man! But without the net-powers, or any of his other strengths, personality traits, nationality, or similar. But… I sure am jumping around! Wonderful. Delightful.

The palace itself is easy enough to find. Not counting the fact that I’ve literally been here before, the building itself is simply colossal. It puts even the castle of Acheron to shame, despite being a fairly low building. That’s what ornate detail and sheer scale gets you, I suppose.

And right outside the palace, sitting alone on the steps, clutching something in his hands, is Fiir-ette. I drop down next to him, doing a hero-pose as I do. My appearance makes him leap three feet into the air, and it’s purely by instinct that I catch him, keeping him from falling and hurting himself. “Hey, are you good?” I ask, putting him down so he’s standing straight. Hm? That’s weird, why’s he trembling? And the look on his face…

“Ah—oh, um, hello, Fennrick, I was just…” Fearfully, trembling in every digit, he holds up a bottle filled with wine. “Here. The wine. They… the guards… they had it quickly bottled for me, so that, um… When I present it to the emperor, it’ll be…”

“Are you nervous?” I ask. The question makes him flinch. His forehead is covered in a sheen of sweat. Sheesh, talk about stage fright… I pull my handkerchief from my inventory, not waiting for his permission to wipe his forehead with it. “Here you are. Relax, my friend. Your father’s wine is the best in the empire! There’s no way the emperor will think any different. And, sure, if you mess up, he might have you executed alongside your whole family. But it probably won’t come to that. So, just calm down, okay?”

He nods at me robotically. Ah. No, he’s still… “And where’s Frog? Did they tether her somewhere?”

“Y—yeah, in the, um… Royal stables. She’s safe. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, I was just curious,” I say. But, man. His nerves are really fried, huh? I smile at him, which only makes him flinch again. Still, I pat him on the shoulder. “Seriously, Fiir. Relax. Remember—you’ve got me at your side. And that’s better than even a pack of wolves! If the emperor tries anything… We can just run away. I can get you out of here. I’m not sure about Frog, but… We’ll get to it, if we need to.”

“Th—th—that’s true, yeah…”

I try to coax a smile out of him. After a few moments, he returns my smile, though it’s stiff and twitches at the edges, much like the rest of his face.

“Alright!” I exclaim. “Let’s go, shall we?” I slap him on the back. “And make sure to keep your back straight! These kinds of high-and-mighty guys hate snivellers.”

“Right. Of—of course.”

I pat him on the back, lighter this time. And then, we enter. Once we’re inside, a pair of guards quickly move to intercept us, though once they recognize Fiir-ette, they instead start to guide us towards the throne room. Ah, the same old path, huh? Not as many guards this time. Though, then again, last time, there were a million guards because they knew who I was. This time is different. There’s one guard in front of us to guide us, and another at our back to ensure we don’t go the wrong way. Fiir-ette is walking in front of me, clutching the bottle of wine like a drowning man might clutch at a piece of driftwood. Unfortunately, before I can figure out how to mentally project a room full of kittens into his head, we arrive.

The same hall filled with draperies of dragon battles. The same statues. The same coat of arms of a rising sun.

The same doors to the throne room.

Fiir-ette freezes. I put my hand on his shoulder and whisper, “Come on, only a bit more. You can do this!”

His head shakes back and forth, ears flopping, face despondent. “I—I don’t, I can’t…” He turns to me, eyes glistening and fearful. “Could you go first? You’re the impressive one, I only…”

I want to refuse him. Like, seriously—he’s the one with the wine! But, at the same time… If it’ll make him feel more confident, then… I smile at him and pat his shoulder. “Sure thing.”

I move ahead of him, and he nods gratefully at me. To visualize my own position, I imagine that I’m the flower-girl. I’m just the marching band walking in front of the parade. That’s all.

On either side, the guards move and begin to push the door open.

The door slides open. Keeping my back straight, I enter.

The door closes behind me. I glance back. Fiir-ette didn’t follow me inside.

I turn towards the other side of the room. The throne is empty.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Slowly, as though wading through a dream, I walk towards the middle of the room. Well there, I stop. How did it go last time? This was the spot. Right here. No… this is where he bowed. My place was…

I take a few steps to the left. And there, I kneel.

A pair of footsteps approach from the room beyond the throne.

“So, this time, you come wearing your own skin.”

I look up. He’s young. Way too young for this. I feel a chuckle rise to my lips. “You’re very similar to your father.”

The emperor moves to stand next to the throne, but he won’t sit on it. He’s wary of me. I can tell.

“Should I take that as a compliment, or an insult?”

“I didn’t know him too well,” I admit. “So, whichever suits you best.”

“I see.” He looks down at me, still at a safe distance. “If I were to send in the guards at ready around us, would you kill them?”

“No.”

“Would you resist arrest?”

“No.”

“Would you allow yourself to be arrested, only to wait for a moment of weakness to allow escape, cruelly taking my life at the same time, leaving this nation to grieve yet another lost emperor?”

I smile bitterly. “No, I wouldn’t do that.”

He watches me for a long moment, with eyes that analyze me far more deeply than a simple creature like me deserves. Then, when I still won’t move—still won’t stop kneeling—he turns to the left, and makes a small movement with his hand. And out rushes the infanterie. Armed with mancatchers, a true classic, they cascade over me, pressing me down as they have before. But I’m calm this time. I let them. Some of them are snapping chains and things around my limbs. Feet and hands press into me, and I’m crushed against the soft carpet below me.

Once they stop moving, once I’m fully immobile, I hear his footsteps again. Finally brave, he approaches me. A yank at the iron collar now around my throat brings my face up to look at him. He’s staring down at me, but there’s no victory in his eyes.

“Did you suspect nothing? That you would make such a trip, without a single person reporting you? Is that the sort of fantastical delusion you live in—that lets you escape reality even as it chokes the life out of you?”

I look up at him, meeting his gaze evenly. “Did you arrest Fiir-ette, too? My companion, that is?”

A bit of savage glee bubbles up to his face, twisting his lips into a grin. “Fiir-ette was the final candle for the mass. It was only with his help that we got you to this point, creature.” His lips curl up to show his teeth. “He betrayed you. Without him, you wouldn’t be here.”

I blink up at him. Oh. I see. A smile rises to my lips. “That’s good,” I say. “I was afraid he might be suspected for being involved with me. But if he’s the one who reported me, got me arrested and everything, then he should be the one who receives the reward for my capture, no?”

He draws back. The expression of sadistic joy falls off his face. “Is that what you want, creature?”

My jaws snap close. “Ah, uh… N—no, totally not! Grr, I hate that guy! What a terrible goblin, to turn me in like this! If I ever get released, I’m totally going to go after him! Which means that he’ll need a lot of money to keep on the run, should I ever escape. Not that I will escape or anything, it’s just a hypothetical, in which case…”

The emperor turns away from me, his regal mantle billowing. “It is his merit that you were captured alive. Therefore, he will receive his due cut. Not to mention that the wine he brought truly was quite exquisite—I believe he may find a good business here if he should choose to indulge in it. However, as for you…” He turns back to me again. “Whether or not you intend to escape is irrelevant. Your execution has been an inevitability. It is your one atonement. Though my father may never return to his rightful throne, for the sake of this country… No, for the sake of this world, you must die. It shall be an honor for this death to be attributed to me.”

“I see,” I mutter. “That’s good. I would’ve felt bad if you didn’t want to have me executed. This makes me feel a lot more at ease about all of this.”

He pauses. Then, warily, he moves closer to me again. Once he’s right in front of me, he kneels down on one knee. He grabs my face. And, again, I’m struck by how young he looks. He can’t be any older than twenty or so. That sucks. He shouldn’t be on the throne this early. “Sorry about killing your father,” I mutter at him, half-muzzled by his grip on my jaw.

He snarls and throws down my head, making my neck scrape against the sharp spines on the inside of the man-catches. Breathing heavily, he continues to stand over me, his shadow stretched across my vision. “So,” he says, hoarsely. “The beast has grown a conscience? How conveniently timed.” With a single wave of his arm, the guards pull me up to my knees, barbs digging into my arms and legs and neck. He draws in closer, face twisted in black anger. “Do you believe that such pathetic displays will earn my mercy?”

“No,” I answer. “You’re much too righteous for that.”

He scoffs. “Mere flattery. And here I was beginning to believe these years might have changed you. I have met many hu-mans since your little massacre. Kind, virtuous creatures who greeted me with all due honor and respect. I, in return, respected their wishes. I am not a cruel ruler. Always, always, I’ve known that exceptions are to be made for all kinds of people. Not all reds are scoundrels, and not all blues are thieves. Your kind is the same. So, even as His Majesty Simel the Survivor made his case and blocked all entrance to hu-mans—despite holding the only church of fire—I allowed them entry. Even you, I allowed entry. But no further. Now… we shall finally put an end to this.”

Another wave of the arm, and I’m pressed back down onto the floor, laid flat against it, several boots pressing my back straight. From this angle, I can’t see what he’s gesturing for anymore, but a guard kneels down next to me and shears through my shirt with scissors, tearing it off and tossing it aside.

A new person approaches, clad like I imagine a royal mage might be. He’s holding something.

A brand.

He hands it to the emperor. With a bit of magic, the brand lights up in a sheer, burning white. Experimentally, he weighs it in his hand. “We must take all precautions,” he says. “This won’t be like last time. Escape will not be an option. Which is why this part needs to happen now, and not later. Though… This will only be the first.” He hovers the end of the brand above my upper back. Someone cuts off my hair and tosses it to the side. I can feel the heat of the brand, approaching steadily. “This is not your atonement. That is yet to come. This… This is revenge.” I can hear the smile in his voice. “I would say that I hope you do not resent me for it, but you are not worth the sentiment.”

It inches closer. It’s warm. I let my eyes close.

The brand is pressed against my back, high up, just below my neck.

It’s hot. The warmth spreads through me, through my chest, through my lungs, making them seize up, and my heart palpitates.

It burns with the fire of justice.

I feel a smile rise to my lips.

I… deserve this…

This is exactly what I deserve.

And I’m finally getting it.