Alice shook her head and smiled weakly.

“I offered to help; it is no trouble. I am glad you were able to figure things out.” Alice assured with a slightly knowing look. It seemed she suspected that they were hiding something… But even now… She did not ask anything, not even as to why Azanor ran off.

This ate away at Kazius. He felt even more guilty. It was also suspicious. After all, Alice was no idiot… But then why not confront him?

“Still… I appreciate it.” Kazius insisted.

“No problem… It isn’t like you missed much, anyway. As we suspected… The scouts are dead. Their remains show that they were crushed… It isn’t pretty… I am having the town prepare for their funeral… According to their customs. They are making the rafts for it… The plan is to hold the funeral first thing tomorrow.” Alice explained, her expression growing a bit grim.

“Raft?” Kazius questioned in confusion. It wasn’t like in the time he had been Chief there was any need to plan for any funerals. This was his first time hearing about such customs.

“We use rafts to send out bodies into the river after setting it on fire. The stronger the wind, the more Vind protects their spirit to take them into the afterlife.” Damon explained, sounding almost indifferent when he described the custom. Then again, considering what they had done to Vind, it was not surprising. Damon had made it pretty clear how he felt about her.

“I see… I will make sure to attend and express to their families that they will be provided for and get the appropriate support… Thanks again, Alice… I suppose all that is left to talk about is… What about Egil?” Kazius questioned, remembering his outburst at the news about Vind’s statue.

Alice frowned a bit, looking somewhat unsure and worried.

“He apologized for his outburst… And has been running around taking care of work… Maybe to make up for his actions… or even to keep his mind off things… But as far as subordinates go… His lashing out like that is unacceptable… But at the same time… He wasn’t necessarily wrong in his assumptions… If he knew the truth, he would…” Alice trailed off, concerned. It was clear she felt guilty over the information that they were hiding.

Kazius of course was not surprised by the fact that she was bothered by this, he had suspected as much… But he had still kept quiet about it.

Alice’s lips pressed into a hard line, her face turning into a grimace.

“Can I say something to you, Kazius?” Alice suddenly asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

Kazius was caught off guard by her request. Before he could even respond though, Alice would speak again.

“Alone.” Alice added, looking over at Azanor, Damon, and Eve. Her tone almost made it sound like Kazius was in trouble.

They looked surprised but did not put up any sort of objections.

“I… Will give you two some privacy. You can call if you need me.” Damon agreed, but not without some hesitation.

Azanor seemed to stare at Alice, his expression showing just how puzzled he looked. He seemed to be looking at Kazius and at her for a second. Not at their faces, but almost as if looking past them. If Kazius was not nervous about what Alice had to say, perhaps he would have wondered what it was like to see Souls like how he could.

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Seeming to see something, Azanor would subtly nod to himself before he would leave with Eve not far behind.

“Have fun!” Eve chirped with a wave, clearly not reading the room at all. Still, considering her condition, it was not unexpected.

Alice watched their friends leave, following them with her eyes the whole time, but not saying anything until they were gone. Once alone, she sighed.

“I suppose I have two things to say… To start… I hope you know that I am glad you and Damon were able to help Azanor feel better…But I also hope you all can tell me what is going on soon through. I’d like to be involved. That is what I wanted to say first.” Alice admitted with a frown.

Kazius was not sure if he should be surprised or not by her words. She did encourage them to talk alone while she took care of things… But still, he could not help but wonder how long she had realized they were suspicious… They had been careful about being seen meeting alone until now.

‘I want to tell her the truth about everything… But… as selfish as it is… I can’t bring myself to do it.'

Kazius thought to himself in dismay, the thought of Alice’s reaction to what he was… Such a thing was too much for him… Not to mention, Azanor had warned him about how he should use his father’s name sparingly… Or even not at all…

“I… I’m sorry… If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” Kazius questioned, feeling rather ashamed of himself now that he was being confronted by Alice.

“Because last time I butted in on something without understanding the ramifications it… It got everyone I cared about killed, remember?” Alice questioned with a frown. It seemed she blamed herself or everything that had happened to her family… She had not shown it on the surface as much, but deep down, she was carrying a lot too.

“Alice… It… Knowing the Church, they likely would have done that anyway… You must understand that much. They were just looking for an excuse. You were the only thing in their way of getting total complete power.” Kazius assured.

Alice sighed, shaking her head.

“Don’t you think I know that?” Alice asked with a frown, gripping her clothes and looking down.

“If that was really the case from the beginning; when I looked into The Oracle, I would not have seen myself at the throne of Ratier… Whatever they had planned, I caused them to act sooner… So… No, my actions cause it. If I had been more careful, even, perhaps my family would have been here with us… They would have escaped into Vargstam… And lived, just like me… And even my handmaid Ivy would have lived… But wondering about what-ifs helps no one. I do not regret meeting any of you… Especially you, Kazius… I… I refuse to lose anyone else I care about due to my carelessness. I won’t lose anyone ever again. That is why I train with you and Damon to begin with. I won’t be a bystander in my own life when danger comes again. I won’t feel helpless as others take everything away from me.” Alice stated firmly as she looked into his eyes with a pained look, placing her hand over her chest as if she was swearing an oath.

She looked like she wanted to cry, but not a single tear was allowed to fall.

“Alice…” Kazius trailed off, his expression showing remorse.

“Never again!” Alice responded firmly with a snap and glare, almost as if expecting Kazius to say something again about it not being her fault.

“So, I don’t care if you hide things from me. I know you care… You have your reasons for it, I trust you.” Alice continued.

“That is why I was happy to help. I want to protect you all too…” Alice admitted with a frown.

“Thank you, Alice…” Kazius responded, realizing it must be tough for her to air out her heart in such a way. She had not talked as much about what happened to her family as much as he would expect… And it showed that she had a lot bottled up.

“Of course… I would do anything to protect you all… You… You all are all I have…” Alice trailed off, relaxing a little at his response. She seemed satisfied.

“Which brings me to the second thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Alice admitted.

Kazius nodded, wondering what she had to say.

What he did not expect though was a sudden change in Alice’s face. As if it was gripped with determination to say what she had to say next. Her expression became serious. Her round and bright eyes seemed to almost narrow… A dark look appeared on her face. It was as if The Shadows claimed all the light in them. The light from her violet eyes that usually sparkled so brightly was gone.

“Don’t you think it is about time we kill Egil?”