There was another wave of desertion just before the battle—Prince Jukazu just let them leave, apparently finding no purpose to keep the remaining soldiers happy. The only ones left were either directly affiliated with the royal family, or feared being sought out and killed should the royal family survive. Among those that left was Masaaki Sonoru, which was…a bit odd to hear, admittedly. Seiko assumed he decided the kingdom wasn’t worth watching through the fall.

It also became frightening when she realized Asahi was the only person, aside from Princess Maenomi, left in the palace that could dull the voices. In her clearer thoughts, she felt a bit guilty for needing to rely so heavily on his presence—but all she wanted when she could hear the voices is for them to quiet down and let her think on her own. She was still scared of them, knowing what they wanted her to do.

It was one and a half years after that first battle; the last few weeks of winter gave the promise of beautiful spring afterwards, likely the only thing some soldiers looked forward to. Seiko, Maenomi, and Jukazu all waited in the office for further news after they knew the rebel army was close to the capital; Asahi was with them by Seiko’s request, entertaining some small talk with Maenomi, while Jukazu sat behind the desk and drank some combination of Sólstaðuric liquor and Gin wine.

A soldier came in while it was still early in the morning. He bowed and gave a quick report. “The rebels have entered the courtyard, sir.”

Jukazu sat his drink down and stood up. “Good. Let them in.”

“Let them in, sir?” The soldier asked.

“We’ll either kill them or they’ll kill us,” Jukazu replied bluntly. “Now stop questioning orders and let them in. Let them burn the place down for all I care! My only regret is that I had to live in such a damn place to begin with.”

“You could at least pretend you want to live,” Maenomi muttered.

Jukazu didn’t respond, leaving the room without another word, following after the soldier. Seiko looked at Maenomi, and tried to speak kindly.

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“We can stay here with you, if you would like,” Seiko offered. Asahi nodded his agreement.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Maenomi asked quietly. “I’m…a bit scared. This might be the day I die.”

Seiko gave her the best reassuring smile she could muster. “Try not to worry, even if it is. I’ll do my best to protect you.”

“Thank you, Sister.” Seiko knew she could never get used to hearing that one word from the girl—a small part of her feared that she wouldn’t have to.

They fell silent for a time, Maenomi standing in the corner of the room while Asahi and Seiko stayed by the door. She was grateful that she couldn’t hear the voices, afraid of what they would say in this situation—what they would try to get her to do, and what they would succeed in doing.

They could hear the battle outside of the room—fighting and deaths. Seiko knew Jukazu had fallen when she heard his voice for a brief moment: Can’t you finish the job, bastard girl? She winced, which prompted Asahi to give her a worried look but with no further comments.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed before a rebel soldier entered the room—Asahi killed him fairly quickly, but the corpse alerted the others of someone worth fighting. Another few came in, and they all struggled; two of the five noticed Seiko, and seemed to recognize her as the recently-announced heir. She had to focus on fighting those two, and Asahi couldn’t prevent the others from entering on his own.

Maenomi let out a little cry once they entered, but the soldiers paused instead of killing her—it was cut off by strange sounds that Seiko could faintly recognize, albeit painfully. One of the rebels near Seiko turned around to see, while the other’s blade caught her shoulder. It was hard to avoid looking at the blood while still attacking.

The soldiers who had paused all fell by Asahi’s own sword, as did the person attacking Seiko. She made the mistake of looking for Maenomi, almost hidden among the bodies of the soldiers closest to her—but Asahi moved them aside to reveal that the princess had slit her own throat. Seiko winced at the voices returned at the sight of that blood.

She’s dead by now; consider your options, Seiko. You will succeed if you die as well…for no one will be left to carry on this curse. Isn’t that what you want, girl? You don’t want this to be passed on, do you?

After all the time you spent around the royal family, do you think they can be better than this? Better than bloodshed? Better than war? It would be a mercy to end the line now. You’re the last one left, after all. Every one of us knows the truth.

Even the pain from her wound couldn’t stop them; Asahi caught her before she fell to the ground, most of her effort going towards making sure they didn’t act without her will.

Would it really…be a bad thing, if she let herself fall?