Weight of the Crown

Journey 15

1 5

Curse of the Ordinary

In Mes, Yeon escorted the arrested Tora a holding to the holding cell. A letter with both Queen Zula and Emperor Sahar's seal made the message clear. Arrest the trafficker Tora or it's your head being sent to the Emperor's palace.

A younger him would have rushed into a battle, leading the charge instead of idling at the side of a foreign prince. He was still a proud warrior that's for sure, however after the war, Yeon learned that the real glory and prestige went to the ones who commanded from the safe zone than the ones who died charging.

After all, when Ziteng kept her promise to put him on the throne, he needed to build as good as a reputation for himself as soon as possible. First step was reshaping his image of a soldier to a leader.

"Now that we're alone, you can let me go Yeon. What's the plan this time? What is my escape story? I will have my men prepare a hide out."

"No can do Tora. Now that your reputation is ruined, I can't have you dragging mine's down as well." Yeon said keeping the door to the cell closed.

Tora looked at his partner, no former partner, with betrayal plastered all over his face. Tora considered the possibility of betrayal but expected it to come later and where he was the one who betrayed and not the one who got betrayed.

"Now, don't look at me like that. You brought this on yourself. I overlooked your business as long as you spread my name for future political backing. Now look at you, I can't have my name associated with yours." Yeon rephrased his previous sentence to emphasize his now severed ties.

"You think you can get away with this?" Tora's voice rose in volume and pitch. "As soon as I start talking you're done. If I go down, you're coming with me."

Tora removed his hair ornament which doubled as a small dagger and brought it towards Yeon. The two stood frozen for a moment as the pain settled in. Droplets of blood appeared on Yeon's face and it slowly dripped down onto the floor.

"You-"

"You seem to forget that I am a trained soldier."

Yeon seemed to be taller but then Tora realised that it was him who got shorter as he fell towards the ground. His arm got caught in the horizontal bar and as he continued to fall, the blade slowly came out from his chest.

When Tora went to stab Yeon, the latter quickly grabbed the former's arm and redirected it through another gap between the cell bars and into his chest. The blood that appeared on Yeon's face came from Tora as he was stabbed by his own sword.

The former slave trader laid on the floor of the cell, slowly bleeding out. According to future accounts, he died by suicide, choosing to die than to face his crimes. Tora's ten officials who knew about Yeon either kept quiet as the fear of ending up dead or spoke up and their claims were called a lie.

Yeon might not be as talented as Zula or as cunning as Ziteng but he sure as hell wouldn't let being ordinary prevent him from sitting on the throne. He simply had to work to get what he wanted even if it meant dirtying his hands.

*

In Cusa'an, Ziteng began her day with a mask to cover her face. Before breakfast, she headed to the Baijie Temple for a morning ritual. Her life was not supposed to be like this, Ziteng was supposed to be born into greatness. Her lineage traced back to the Durumi royal family, the family in charge of Valleria before the Koi-Longwa family came into power.