As I straighten and take steps away from the king, my body trembles with the aftershock of what just happened. I breathe shakily my breaths forming clouds in the air. It’s cold. It’s freezing inside the King’s room but I don’t know if that cold is outside or from inside me.

The heavy rush of warmth is dissipating. Whatever possessed me is retreating and my strength and vitality are returning to normal levels. I don't hear the voice anymore, and the marks on my body are healed.

What on earth was that? What happened to me?

I don’t know but you don't have time to worry about that right now. You just killed the King.

Damn it.

I shut my eyes and run my hand over my head. The stench of blood is thick in the atmosphere, mixing with something else, something rancid and bitter.

The king’s blood is an odd shade is black with only a few trails of red. Just like the monster in the forest.

He was really trying to turn himself into one of them. It's why his face currently has that beast-like look to it, his nose and mouth protruding into what can almost be called a snout, his eyes black and his fingernails extended almost become claws.

He was trying to become an abomination. A half-beast, half-human like the Griffins were rumored to be.

And he was trying to turn his soldiers into that too.

I, like many others, thought the story of the Griffins being half-beast was a myth but apparently, it’s not. It’s factual. And the King was going to use me to make an army of them.

I step back and stare around. I need to escape but it’s a mess all around me. This entire situation is a mess. It would be dangerous and useless to leave now. The crown prince already saw me here, even if he's currently passed out on the floor. When he wakes up and finds the king dead, they’ll trace it back to me. I’ll be banished and meet the same fate I did in my first life.

I could run away.

Wolf said he knew a way I could escape. But Wolf’s not here, and furthermore, where would I escape to? The midlands? It’s a good thought. Eliminating the King has removed one obstacle leading to my demise but there may still be war and if the queen successfully captures Seir and gets her hands on Wolf's mother, then this is all for nothing. She may still continue her cruel experiments and I may still be caught up in that.

No, I can’t escape but I also can’t stay here and die.

"Oh, you bastard,” I mutter at the King’s corpse. "Just look at the predicament you've put me in."

I didn’t intend to kill the king, a least not yet. A dead King was a political complication that the North did not need. It's a complication I don't need. If I had planned to kill the King, I never would have done it so sloppily.

I glance around and think of what to do. I walk over to the King's open wall cabinet full of orbs, hoping one of them can help me. Maybe they can help bring him back to life.

Except I'm not entirely sure I want to do that even if I could.

But there has to be something I can do to make the situation somehow less...messy.

And I need to hurry before one of the soldiers gets curious about their master's continued absence and comes in.

I look at the orbs, marveling at the sheer number of them. I take the dark blue orb that looks like the one in my memories, meant to contain the boar and tuck it in my breeches. I notice another orb, black but not like obsidian. There's an almost bluish-grey tint to its sheen that reminds me of the Black Shrewk's feathers.

I take it and turn it in my hand trying to figure out how to activate it when suddenly the orb turns into a swirling mass of dust.

And then with a chirp, the dust clears and a tiny black bird is perched in my hand blinking at me.

"Shrewk." I breathe out in amazement. It titters at me, flapping its wings as though happy to see me. I'm happy to see it too, and then I rub under its chin, feeling a calm flow into my spirit.

"I'm glad I found you," I tell it.

I promised I would return it to the forest and I'm glad I get to keep my promise.

“Do you know your way back home little one?” I ask and the bird chirps. I notice feathers are missing from the back of its wing, forming a bald patch. The king must have used the Shrewk extensively to create healing potions while he was experimenting with himself. I can't imagine turning yourself into a beast could have been a straightforward painless thing.

Crazy bastard indeed.

I take the bird to the window. But it doesn't fly out of my hand. It simply rests there in my palm.

Perhaps it doesn't know its way home.

I bring it back and say, “Stay hidden.”

It chirps and transforms itself once more into the orb.

"Smart bird." I tuck it into my tunic and turn to observe the rest of the orbs. I don't know what most of them do, and I debate on whether or not to take anything more. But then I decide not to. I can't guarantee that Tyne and the Chiefs don't know about these orbs. Or even the Farrow Witch. If I take too many things, they might start investigating and place me at the scene of the crime.

I turn around and see the memory stone still glowing in the King's hand.

An idea strikes me and I go and pluck it out of his paws.

Then I walk over to Caster and hold it out.

The stone glows.

This is probably a bad idea. I don't know what I'm doing and I might be messing everything up. But if I can erase or alter Caster's memory of tonight, maybe I can get away with this.

The problem is that I'm not sure I know how it works.

But I have a fair idea of how Farrow's mind magic works, having been a victim of it several times. They sift through memories and implant whichever ones they want. I imagine this stone does a similar thing. The King implied as much.

I pause for a moment struck by the irony of what I'm doing.

I used to hate the Farrows for what they did to me and my mind. I was afraid of the King using that stone on me.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

And now I'm about to do the same to Caster without a shred of guilt.

It's necessary, I think but how many times am I going to use that excuse? How many times am I going to do something despicable under the guise of it being necessary?

Caster hasn't done anything egregious to me in the timeline. If I do this to him...it would make me a very bad person.

I close my eyes and draw that mana into myself. The stone glows in my hand, as I try to focus on the last thoughts Caster must be having.

But almost instantly I hear a groan and drop the stone.

"Caster?"

His eyes open slowly, and I grab the stone again, quickly tucking it in my pocket as I kneel by him. Hopefully, he didn't catch me trying to alter his memory. "Caster, are you okay?"

"No," he groans. "What on earth happened?"

Okay, time to go with plan B. Being a very convincing liar.

“Are you alright Prince?”

He groans, propping himself up on one elbow. “I feel horrible. What happened?”

“How much do you remember?"

"I don't know...I remember...my father and I fighting and I..." His eyes widen, as he sits up searching around the room. He pales when his gaze falls on his father's still body.

I press my lips together, frantically pulling together an explanation for why the King is dead. Then Caster speaks again.

"I killed him." His tone is quiet, tiny from the shock. His gaze slowly turns to me. "I remember stabbing him and I...that's the last thing I recall. I...I killed the King."

No, you didn't. It's on the tip of my tongue to say it but I hesitate. If I tell Caster he didn't kill his father, then he'll want to know how his father died. I could tell him that he was killed by the demon he tried to invoke but that wouldn't explain the multiple stab wounds on his father's body including his neck and blood on the blade.

A demon couldn't do that.

I did that.

I can also be truthful, tell Caster that I'm the one who killed the King and hope that he keeps my secret. He may. After all, it's pretty clear that it was self-defense and Caster himself was nearly murdered by the King.

But I can't guarantee he will.

I recall how he sold me out in my first life, how much I lost by trusting him. I don't want to make the same mistake.

“It’s not your fault,” I say instead, as his groggy eyes meet mine. "He was trying to kill you, Caster."

Caster shakes his head, as though unable to accept the horror right in front of him.

"He would have killed you and me," I say. "And several other people in this Village. He was trying to raise a demon that would have exterminated innocents and crops. It would have been a disaster. You did what you had to to stop that terrible future."

"I killed my father."

"You had no choice."

Caster gets up slowly. Despite knowing that he must be in a lot of pain from being thrown around the room by the King, he winces only a little. He limps as he approaches his father's body. His hands shake, his eyes horrified.

"I had no choice,” he whispers to himself.

Guilt swarms me. This is evil what I'm doing.

But I don't think I have a choice either.

Caster swallows and heads decidedly to the door.

I rush and catch his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Going to report to the Guard what I've done." He says. "The Chiefs...there will be a trial and I will be found guilty."

"No," I say. "You're not guilty of anything."

"That's for the Chiefs to decide."

"They won't have to decide if we're smart about this," I say.

"What do you mean?"

I consider what I'm about to say staring him in the eyes. "Do you trust me, Caster?"

"Of course," he says without hesitation.

It's a near inverse of what happened in the past when he asked me if I trusted him and I said yes, right before he gave me that deadly task.

He'd come to my room panicked because he thought the King would have his head. Seeing his frantic state, I would have said or done anything to calm him down.

"My father is not…well in the head," he told me. "He keeps muttering about things that don’t make sense and his behavior is getting more and more erratic. Genya took me to that meeting with the Western nations and they said they made me a deal I couldn't refuse and I... If my father finds out what I did, he'll never forgive me. He has ears everywhere so it's only a matter of time." He gripped my hand. "Adria please help me. Please take the blame for this. I'll make sure the King doesn't hurt you and once he's gone, I'll bring you out of the dungeon and make you my queen."

"Once he's gone? You mean the King?"

"Yes. It won't be that long."

The way he said it so certainly raised my alarm. "You don't mean to kill him, do you?"

His lips pressed together. "If that's what it takes to make you my queen."

I didn't see the manipulation for what it was back then. I thought it was the most romantic thing I'd ever heard, a confirmation that Caster did love me despite everything.

I trusted him enough to take the blame for his treasonous act of colluding with hostile Westerners, believing that Caster would get me out of trouble when the time came.

But that’s not how it happened. When I took blame for the deed, more of my apparent 'crimes' were revealed through Tyne and Genya who seemed to have all the evidence. They said I killed the Merchant. They said I met with different dignitaries and seduced them for information. Every one of Tyne's backdoor dealings was pinned on me, and no matter how much I tried to defend myself Caster didn’t believe me.

I was willing to kill for Caster. I was willing to die for him. But he had used me to save his skin and cast me away.

Now I’m using him to save mine.

I suppose it's easy enough to convince Caster that he killed his father now because in the future he does eventually plot to kill the King. Maybe he's already having thoughts of it now. No doubt Caster can already tell how insane and erratic the King was getting and perhaps the rest of the Chiefs could tell too. I don't doubt some of them will be relieved at this development, even though they'll never admit it.

"Tell them that it was the intruder," I say. "That you tried to stop him but then the intruder overpowered you and killed the King. Then he escaped."

His eyebrows furrow. He shakes his head in denial. "I can't do that."

"Yes you can," I say. "The King is dead. You're the last of his blood, the only bastion the North has left. Imagine what will happen if you're killed too. The Chiefs might choose to banish you or kill you for this crime even though they know the North will fall without you." And while it may serve my purposes to have Caster kicked out and Wolf takes his place, I doubt it will be that simple.

Besides, it would be far too cruel.

"Admitting what you did is too much of a risk to take."

Caster opens his mouth. Then closes it. I can see the thoughts running through his head before he shakes it.

"They won't believe that a mere intruder overpowered the great King," he says.

"Yes they will," I say. "You'll tell them of the intruder's unnatural strength and you know because you fought him. Anyone who looks at you can see how wounded you are. Tell them you were in the fight with the intruder and that was how you got your wounds and the intruder overpowered you and killed the King."

"Yes but no one has seen an intruder."

I shrug. "Perhaps he was invisible." And the broken invisibility orb in the corner of the room might help with that assumption. "If you need me to back up the story with my vision I will."

The Prince chews on his lower lip. Then his eyebrows furrow as his eyes meet mine.

"How did...how did you get into the King's room?"

It's a question I already have an answer for. "I heard the King had returned. I came to warn him but...he trapped me here and tried to.." My breath hitched at the memory of the pain. "Anyway, luckily it didn't work."

"I'm so sorry about this Adria," he says.

"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault." I hug him. "Thank you for saving me."

I feel him swallow. "Even if I manage to somehow convince the Chiefs, the Generals may not believe it."

"They'll have to once they see him," I murmur into his shirt. "Because the alternative will be admitting that the King performed black magic. And they won't want to risk revealing that or the citizens will go into a panic. They'll want to case closed up quickly." Even if the Generals think that Caster killed his father, one look at the King's body and they'll understand why he did it. Both Generals hold the highest loyalty to the royal family and they'll want to see the royal line continued, and want to hide the King's crimes too.

More than me, they will give Caster the perfect alibi.

In the end, I manage to convince Caster not to admit his guilt. With his help, I slip out of the window and back into the Caster's room and then walk down the hallways out and out of the castle normally.

Caster will soon raise the alarms of the King's death, but I will be gone by then.

Only time will tell if I've truly managed to get away. Thankfully, I don't look any worse for the wear, with not a single cut on my skin.

If luck is on my side, I'll be able to get away with this scott-free.

I don't necessarily believe in luck.

But there's a memory stone now in my pocket. And that should help me take care of anything that arises.

I walk back to the cottage, feeling remarkably calm and clear-headed considering what happened. All in all, I achieved my goal and got the boar as planned.

I also got my revenge on the King and although that wasn't planned, I can't feel bad about killing the madman.

"Good riddance," I murmur into the air.

Hopefully, Wolf and Seir are having similar luck.

But when, I open the door of the cottage I'm proven wrong.

Wolf is on the floor passed out and Seir is above him with a panicked look.

"Wolf!" I run to him, my brain short-circuiting at the sight of him like this. "What happened?"

Seir opens his mouth, closes it, and swallows.

"We found his mother," he says lamely.