Living with a lie

The hallways were quiet as I walked to the interrogation room, although, if it were up to me I’d rather leave Cymos behind. Everytime I open my eyes and remember I’m stuck in this place, I feel sick. Ever since what happened, things were radio silent. I was stuck with Matilda in the military hospital until today. When I was told I could leave, I playfully teased the guard who came to visit me.

“My, are you using this as an excuse to ask me out on a date?”

“Mam, please refrain from saying such things. I have orders to give you this summons, you are to head to interrogation room 3 at our HQ.”

I was stunned, the interrogation room? Why was I being interrogated? That led me to walking all the way over to the base for the Cymos guard garrison. As I entered inside the guards saluted me, but all that did was make me feel sick. I wasn’t some hero, I was an idiot that almost got her subordinate killed. After being tormented with praises, as I walked down the halls, I finally reached the interrogation room. Inside was the captain of the guard who was there with me at the scene, and a bald man wearing glasses and a tacky suit.

“Please take a seat dear, this shouldn’t take long.”

“I’d rather stand.”

The bald man’s face didn’t budge, he simply took out a notepad and a featured pen.

“You’d rather stand, I see.”

I was confused, until I noticed the captain’s face. His eyes gestured to take a seat, I understood at that moment that this was a test. I sighed and took a seat, the bald man kept the same look and opened his rigid mouth.

“So, you’ve decided to take a breather?”

“I just got out of the hospital, my legs are weaker than I thought.”

The old man wrote that down, why the hell is he recording information about me. After recording my responses, the old man fixed his glasses and opened his eyes. Immediately my body tensed, his eyes were sharp like a blade. It felt like he was a falcon and I was his prey.

“I’ll keep this short, when you saw those men the other day, did you truly see minister Bartalow?”

I sat there for a moment, what is this bastard saying? He was right there, I saw him talking to the silver mask wearing hazbin. I wanted to protest, but the guard captain’s eyes stopped me. He knew something I didn’t, his eyes were telling me to stop where I was. I bit the inside of my lip and composed myself.

“The lights were dim, I couldn’t make out who was talking to the masked man.”

The old man gave me a soft smile, I was about to start breathing again. That was until the old man put my danger sense on high alert.

“Tell me, have you any idea who the masked man is?”

It could barely breathe, it felt like my neck was being stomped on. The old man looked me in the eye, if I looked away or showed any signs of a lie, my life was forfeit.

“...No, I have no clue who he was.”

My answer was neuter the truth or a lie, I had ideas, but nothing concrete. The old man’s serious face broke into a frown, and finally a sigh.

“For your sake, let’s keep it that way.”

The old man stood up, taking an ornamented sword with him. Before leaving the room, he spoke with his back turned to me.

“By the way, I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Cyrus Augustine, it’s been a pleasure.”

Old man Cyrus left, and I instantly wanted to vomit. Cyrus Augustine, as in the sword saint Cyrus Augustine, no wonder I was so terrified. Why was a sword saint questioning me? What the hell is going on? I wanted to blurt out my thoughts, but the guard captain stopped me.

“I’m sorry you're in this predicament, he gave me the same run around as well.”

“What the hell is going on? Why was I being threatened by a Sword Saint!?!”

The guard captain put a finger to his lips, and brought himself close to me.

“The situation is bigger than we thought, the Phantoma family are in an uproar right now.”

The Phantoma family? As in the rulers of Cymos? Why were they in an uproar-

Have you any idea who that masked man was?

…S***, this was worse than I thought. What the hell did I get myself into? I started trembling realizing I barked up the wrong tree, but the guard captain put his hand on my shoulder. He told me that I had to be strong, before I could leave someone wanted to see me. There I was, alone in the interrogation room, until finally he arrived.

“You look like you’ve seen hell, Lieutenant Kesandra.”

“Captain Victor!”

I ran to him and held him, I was happy to see someone I knew. Captain Victor didn’t return my hug, he stood tall and gave me something to latch onto. After some silence he made sure the door was closed and addressed me.

“The good thing about these interrogation rooms is that their sound proof, nothing gets in or out of these walls.”

I froze for a moment and looked at his face, the captain nodded at me. We sat at the table and I went over everything with him.

“Captain, there’s no other way, the masked man has to be a member of the Phantoma family.”

“Kesandra…”

“Those bastards, they’re the bad blood poisoning their own city, how could they!?!”

“Kesandra, a gag order was issued.”

I looked at the captain, his eyes were like stone. I wanted to argue, to ask why, but I already knew the answer. We might have the power to mobilize the city’s troops, but to investigate further requires the credentials of royalty. The captain pulled out a sack and dropped it on the table.

“Along with the free medical care, the city of Cymos has rewarded you with 10,000 jewel. That’s enough to retire and live your life comfortably.”

“...So in other words, it’s hush money.”

Take the money, or be executed by the sword saint. Those were the only options I had, and I didn’t like them.

“Although, I expect you don’t want to retire. So this is what I think, we give this money to the royal family as a sign of goodwill. Since you kept true to te terms of the agreement, I’ll have you instated as-”

“Please stop…”

I didn’t want to hear anymore, the captain’s words were grating my ears. It’s bad enough that I need to accept hush money, but now he plans to give me the promotion? To hell with that!

“Kesandra, the squad needs a vice captain.”

“...enough.”

“Sneed has trouble on his end, you handled your duty properly-”

“...Just stop…”

“It’s true that Pledge Ferris was mortally wounded, but-”

“Shut Up! Any more out of you, and I won’t let you leave this room ali-”

The captain slammed his fist down on the table we sat at. His fist sat there, bloody, as splinters from the table pierced it. I looked at the captain’s face, I’ve never seen him look so angry before. He pulled something from his pocket and placed it on the table.

“They offered this elixir for Matilda’s condition, they think this will make everything right as rain.”

An elixir? At that point my rage turned into something else, it turned into shame. We had no choice but to accept this, if we tried anything then we’d be finished. I don’t want Matilda to be placed in any more danger, but I don’t want to do this either. If I accept this, Matilda could wake up, but if I do I’m playing into their hands. No matter what I do, I can never truly make things right.