Chapter 7: Plans In Motion

    The following night, Ignatius ensured that the guards that were assigned to Harriette while she slept were in on ‘the plan’. The door nob had been changed so it could only be unlocked from the outside, the room that once housed the captain of the royal guard was now a fancy prison cell. The guards and I never exchanged and words, only nods, I was followed in by one while the other stayed outside. I knew that Ignatius still didn’t trust me, which was reasonable, I may or may not have an appointment with a spy who works for some of Gotthilf’s allies. If this whole enemies to lovers doesn’t work out, then it’s best if we escape.

Harriette sat on the edge of her bed in her nightgown. She didn’t bother to check to see who had walked in. “Oh, good. You’re still awake!” I chipperly spoke.

“Amice? What are you doing here?” Harriette asked as she moved over to let me sit next to her.

“I came to have a girly talk with you.” I smiled.

Harriette didn’t match my joy. “You’re making that face, you have an ulterior motive.”

“Fine, yes.” I pouted. “I’ll be blunt. I think you should court King Aldous.” I stated. I watched as a million emotions passed on Harriette’s face before she chose one to react with. She punched me in the eye, she chose anger. “Ow! Just hear me out.” I whimpered.

“No, he is the king of all demons! I’m supposed to be his eternal enemy!” Harriette screamed. “It doesn’t matter how handsome a demon is on the outside they are just ugly on the inside.” She couldn’t look at me.

“I think you’re handsome on the outside and inside.” I touched her shoulder. “We’ve already lost, we no longer have a story planned out for us, maybe instead of forcing history to repeat, we try something different. Peace and love, even if it came in a way that was unpleasant.”

“I don’t deserve to be happy if I failed.” Harriette brushed off my hand. “I’m supposed to be the one who knows where to go. I need to know the right path. Why don’t I? Pursing this feeling is selfish. I need to repay-”

“Repay what? Something that has been repaid a hundred times over. You did everything you could, your clan no longer has a debt to the royal family, you stood by until the end. You deserve love, you’ve forced yourself to never have it every life you lived.” I spoke earnestly.

“But why him of all people? It feels wrong to do a full one eighty.” She confided in me.

“Let’s pretend he wasn’t Aldous, the evil king of all demons. What would you think of him without all the previous lives?” I asked.

“Honestly, I’d think he is merciful. He only killed who he had to. He seems to genuinely care about his subjects, he has plans to not only improve the lives of monsters, but of humans as well. He likes the twins, him and Biff seem to get along great.” She started to get a little giddy. “He even says he wants to be like a father to them. If he wasn’t Aldous I would court him in a heartbeat.”

“Do you know why this all began?” I asked her solemnly.

“Why?” She focused solely on what I was saying.

“During the first century, powerful artifacts went missing from the demons of the demon dimension and the people of Ravivui. The rulers of each people joined forces to retrieve the artifacts, both seeked to have a power of the other, so they spared, winner would become king, and the loser would serve him until the artifacts returned.” I began to tell her the tale that was at the prologue of one of the games.

“What did the relics do?” Harriette asked curiously.

“I am unsure. There are speculations that the one from the demon dimension could control fire and the one from Ravivui could control water, but nothing is known for certain. Anyway,” I continued. “Aldous obviously won, and thus he set out to find the lost artifacts, coming to the young Bugalas. The people of Bugalas saw them as invaders, so the clans that resided there joined together to fend his forces off.”

“Did they try talking it out first, I’m sure that Gotthilf-“ Harriette started to defend the late king until she saw my shaking head.

“He hadn’t even seen them, only heard of rumors when he dispensed Prince Ronald and Princess Freya to fight. Do I blame him, not really. Could things have been handled better, yes, both sides were impulsive. Innocent blood was shed for no good reason. People do stupid things, and now generations have suffered.” I clarified. “If diplomacy was used instead of violence, maybe you two were meant to be together, soulmates forced apart by a war, maybe not, but I believe that it is worth a shot. If he is just evil, you can call it off.”

“This could end badly.” She thought for a moment. “It could also end well. I’ll sleep on this.” She hugged me. “Thank you, Amice.” I hugged her back.

When I passed the guard to leave, I handed her a bag full of pearls. “You heard nothing.” I stated, I left without another word.

I made it seem like I was heading back to my own room, until I was sure no one was around. I slipped into a secret passageway, which took me to another part of the castle. I drank a health potion on the way to heal my black eye that Harriette had given me. I waited for a patrol to walk by, then I made my way across the hall, into a small room, then into another secret passageway. It was times like these where I was glad I was so small compared to everyone else, otherwise I probably couldn’t handle going through these narrow passageways. I made it to a small room within the passageway, if you could call it that. Waiting there was a spy sent by the human duchies that were allied with Gotthilf.

The spy wore all black leather, various weapons were attacked to his legs and belt. The first thing you think of when you hear the word assassin is what he looked like. “Are you the one they call Amice?” He growled.

“Yes, and your name is Fredrick Burns, you’re from Newwick, Beice, your twenty-seven, your wife of four years is named Mary, and you were recently blessed with a son who you named after your father.” I grinned darkly. “Am I correct?”

“How did you-? You know what, it doesn’t matter. We don’t have much time. What is going on in here?” So, Fredrick reacts in anger when he is scared, that is kind of bad for a spy.

“Most of our surviving guards are currently on route to Ravivui to be slaves. About ten to fifteen escaped, unfortunately Aldous knows where they are and threatens to kill them if Harriette steps out of line.” I replied.

“So, the rumors are true, the captain of the royal guard failed, why is she still alive, has she betrayed Bugalas?” He snarled. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the floor. “Gah! You’re strong for a pipsqueak.”

“Harriette would never betray Bugalas, she did everything she could.” I snapped. “If Aldous wanted to kill her along with the royal family, he could have very easily. He kept her alive as a trophy, now she is under house arrest and is treated as a lady. At first things a were a bit rocky, but all things considered he is treating all of us well.”

“Ha! A lady? Oh yes, I guess technically she is a lady, but a member Ofenjen clan shouldn’t be held in such high regard, house arrest? Ha!” He thought this was funny. He is lucky I am so patient.

I pulled out my special knife. I put it to his throat. “I may be a part of greater Bugalas race, but I have been welcomed into the Ofenjen clan, you are insulting my lady.”

“Uh, okay, okay! I get it.” He gently guided my hand away.

“I have some good news. It appears Aldous likes Harriette. Given that the royal family dead, if they fall in love, it might be a way to unite-“Fredrick raised his hand to stop me.

“I’ll stop you there. It seems you’ve heard too many stories where everything ends in a happily ever after. He only ‘likes’ her because she is of the Ofenjen clan. She is part demon! He will use her, if he hasn’t already.” Fredrick held my wrist to try and keep me from putting my knife to his throat again. “Do you know what he has been doing to the other realms? Our leaders have been losing control, he has increased taxes, he is demanding censuses and catalogs of our relics. He is planning something. Monsters are roaming our cities uncontested.”

“Is he rounding up our children, slaughtering them in the streets? How many people has he killed, who has he killed?” I kept calm as I questioned him.

“Uh, no.” Fredrick answered as the thought for a moment before answering the second question. “He has only killed soldiers and the royal family, he has taken a lot of prisoners and made most of them slaves, but as far as I know, the children of Bugalas have been left alone.”

“I’m going to put you in a hypothetical situation, and I want you to answer truthfully. You are told that two people are to be born into this family that hates you, are going to kill you. Would you not try to stop them from being born?” Fredrick wouldn’t answer me. “I’m not justifying what he did, but he could have done a lot worse. He might actually be a half decent ruler. We should make the most out of this, and not ruin the mercy that we are given by holding onto some ancient grudge.”

“You are a fool. That man is incapable of love.” Fredrick shook his head. “The others don’t want to act without Harriette. Do what you are going to do but tell her that the rebellion will strike when she joins us. Without her…”

“I know. I have yet to hear of Harriette’s decision on the idea of courting Aldous. She has been quite reluctant, but I believe that peace between his and our factions is possible through their love. Please tell the dukes and duchess of the rebellion to be patient. This is the long game; we can’t be too hasty whatever path is taken.” I pulled my wrist out of his grasp.

“You are sure all of the royal family is dead; there is no way for Prince Ronald and Princess Freya to return?” Fredrick asked one final question.

“Yes, every member of the royal family is dead. I do believe that the prince and princess of legend will return. Someday.” I then left the way I had came, I heard that Fredrick did the same.

I don’t know why I defend Aldous the way I do, I never cared for the morality and politics in the games, but now that they are real, I can’t help but question what side is truly right and wrong, maybe it is more complicated than the good guys and bad guys. The next day was uneventful, cleaning, work, running, normal maid stuff. Harriette spent the day with her children. Aldous had invited her to dinner, she didn’t decline, although she didn’t have much of a choice. It was a beautiful evening, the sunset was a warm red. I was one of the maids that delivered the dinner. Ignatius, Narcissus and Camillus were all in attendance, along with a few other lords, some were even human. I was ordered to stay nearby.

After some time, Aldous spoke. “I’m sure all of you are wondering why I have invited you here. Well, I thought we should celebrate, in your realms I have decided to start an education program to lower the illiteracy rates of the peasants in Bugalas. I would like you all to decide on a place to build a school in your realm to test this out. I would also like you all to give your input for the curriculum. If all goes well, I would like to implement this program all across the kingdom.” Ignatius and Narcissus weren’t surprised in the slightest, unlike everyone else. They must have known that Aldous was planning this. “I would also like for the children to learn history and mathematics.”

“Um, pardon me, my liege.” A human lord piped up. “But what good would it do to educate commoners?”

Aldous had an answer ready. “It will help diversify our doctors and researchers, bringing forth new ideas that could help us prevent and eradicate deceases, we could also gain new technologies.” He took a drink, and with a smug look on his face he continued. “I knew that some of you would be apprehensive, so I have proof that it is beneficial to give a formal education to the commoners. I have two examples, Camillus who I have promoted to a lord.” Camillus stopped eating mid bite and stared at Aldous with wide eyes. “He is a prodigy; he has been able to read some of the most complex texts for months. He will do great things now that he has been given a chance. The other is that maid over there.” Aldous pointed at me. I was sweating profusely, now the whole world is going to know I can read, it’s going to be so much harder to sneakily read letters. My heart was pounding. “Her ability to read has allowed her to overcome her inability to use magic, making her just as efficient as the other maids. If all of your servants were able to read, you could just give them a list of things to do. Also, organization would become easier, if things could just be labeled, tasks take less time as they wouldn’t take so long to search for things.” Aldous continued to talk passionately about the benefits of school.

I could hear him talking but I couldn't make out his words. I felt lightheaded, everything hurt, I wanted to throw up. My chest hurt the worst of all. I grasped onto my dress over my heart. I was having another heart attack. I shuffled over to Harriette, I grabbed her shoulder, then fell to the ground. Had I just wasted another life, there was so much more I wanted to do. If I had known I was going to die again so soon, I would have been bolder. I ruined my chance to be a hero. Would I be reborn in a new world, in my old one or would I cease to exist?