"Your Majesty. Commander Marcus Hardly requests an audience." The request caused Alfred to shoot up out of his chair and smile. Pushing past the servant he practically ran towards the throne room. It had been a month since the operation and although it should have been quicker for their return, a certain amount of rest was requested.

Alfred had a small report of the events and after reading it he felt it was deserved. Pushing the double doors open, his throne sat in front of him. Alfred could see Marcus waiting patiently alongside William. Seeing his arrival Marcus fell to his knee with William giving a polite bow.

"Rise," Alfred said casually, taking a seat on the throne. "Marcus. Come forward." Marcus clenched his fists and strode with pride. It was unlike before where a wall of guards blocked his path. He wasn’t looked at with cold eyes judging him like a traitor. Marcus stopped just before the steps up the throne.

"You." Alfred paused and swallowed the saliva in his mouth. Despite still not caring much for the man he couldn’t help but admit it was him who allowed things to be resolved quickly. "You have done well. No. You have exceeded my expectations. I expected a year before things would be ready, but you forced it through. You have done well Marcus."

"Your Majesty." Marcus fell to his knee. "I still failed. I was unable to recover the gold."

"Marcus," Alfred called out sternly. "The fortress is destroyed, and whilst this wasn’t your plan, it was still a benefit for us. Any evidence of the Empire’s dealing with them has been destroyed and whilst Snowid could claim he found our gold, what can he do? We solved his mess."

"Your Majesty." Marcus raised his head to look into the young Emporers eyes. "Are we good?" He couldn’t believe he was asking the question himself, but he had to. He knew the Empire was the one who orchestrated the attack on the Commonwealth using the pirates but seeing what they had done to their prisoners he couldn’t help but have doubts. How broken they were, the torment they must have lived through.

It was the Empire he served that caused it. Alfred could see Marcus’s doubts and frowned lowering his head. "What is good Marcus? It’s a question you must ask yourself if you wish to take William’s place. If you do, then you must know what it means to be able to make the hard choices for the Empire. The choices I have to make every day. The choices William has to make. If you wish to feel better about yourself, then believe you are good. You saved how many people when you could have easily left them."

"I just feel conflicted Your Majesty."

"What are you, Marcus?" It was a sudden question and Marcus was baffled but quickly collected himself.

"A soldier and leader."

"You can’t be both," Alfred said sharply. "If you are a soldier you must follow orders, live, and die by the decree of those above you. But if you are a leader then you must make tough choices even if you disagree with them. You must carry the guilt for your men so they can sleep peacefully. You do not need to feel bad about what you have seen. That is my burden, Issac’s burden, and everyone’s involved. You simply did your job."

Marcus took a deep breath and stood up. Closing his eyes Alfred’s words echoed in his mind. It was a choice for his future. "Your right, Your Majesty." He spoke with a powerful conviction getting a smile from William.

"Marcus." Alfred got up and walked down the steps. Resting his arm on the man’s shoulder he sighed. "My words aren’t empty. I do not like you. You failed to protect my dear friend. It is unfair to blame you, I know it is, you know it is. But I need someone to, or I don’t know how I will carry on. I can’t doubt myself, or blame myself, because when I start, the future will have me second-guessing everything I do, and the Empire can’t afford that."

Marcus sighed hearing his words. He could only bitterly nod. "But I forgive you," Alfred said quietly. "I must make the hard choices, and you. You are too valuable for the Empire for me to brush aside and discard. I won’t help you take your place when William retires, but I do hope you take it. There is no better."

Alfred removed his hand and walked off. Marcus spun and gave a bow in his direction clenching his fist and smiling. William walked over. "Raise your head, Marcus." His voice was friendly when talking to his subordinate.

"It’s just unexpected."

"I think Chris’s death has changed him. Right now he only has one thing in mind. The Church. They actually killed his friend, whilst you only failed to protect Raven. His anger has simply been redirected."

With a bitter chuckle, Marcus ran his hand through his hair. "An Emporer doesn’t need to like all his subjects, only take care of them."

"It’s not just that." Marcus looked at the old man confused. "What you did on the island, saving your men before yourself. Leading the assault into the fortress. He respects you even if he doesn’t like you."

"I’ll take it."

"Come, let us have a drink." William wrapped his arm around Marcus’s shoulders and walked off the two smiling. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

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A soft laughter echoed through the spiraling tower of the Commonwealth palace. Konrad sat alone, looking at the paper that had suddenly been spread throughout the land, his hand gripping around it.

"You called me." Lesezk walked in, the fresh air assaulting his face. He watched as Konrad’s mad chuckles slowly died down.

"We’ve been played." Konrad threw the paper towards Lesezk. Reading it, his eyes squinted.

"The Empire dealt with the issue. So what?"

"They caused it." Konrad jumped up throwing the small desk in front of him to the side. His usual smile was gone, only a cold face remaining. "It was all a game and we unwillingly played it."

"Konrad." Lesezk walked before the man, looking down into his eyes. "What do you mean they caused it?"

"It all makes sense." Konrad turned and walked in circles. "Think about it. Snowid begins his military reforms after seeing the Empire’s strength. But unlike the Empire, they don’t have the time nor support to do it properly. Now I know we had a spy infiltrate the Commonwealth, I assume it was the Empire before with a near certainty but now I’m sure."

"The Empire knew the nobles were divided on the reforms and then suddenly we get a surprise invasion and are caught off guard. The nobility no longer had the proper means to defend themselves and who gets the blame."

"Shit," Lesezk said under his breath as he realized the grand plan Konrad believed happened. Grabbing his forehead he shook his head in disbelief. "The Empire paid them to do it."

"And now they take credit for cleaning it up." Konrad sighed. "The Empire weakens the crown standing and takes credit for what we should have done, not allowing redemption. We’ve all been played."

"But why?"

"I don’t know." It was a first for Lesezk seeing confusion on the man’s face. "I don’t know. I can’t see what the end goal is anymore. To create friction between the Royalists and Noble faction, to weaken our military to buy time for the schism. It could be anything."

"Does father know?"

"He will, eventually." Konrad fell back into his chair and looked out over the city. "We need to prepare. I thought the infiltration was the end goal but I don’t know anymore."

Lesezk looked at Kornad and scoffed. Walking in front of him he crouched down and stared deep into his eyes. "Get your shit together. Find out what the Empire is doing. That’s your job." Standing back up he scoffed again and walked off.