On the way to the dungeon where Alith was being held… I had one thing on my mind.

That was too close.

Too close.

I lost my composure for a moment, I started saying the first thing that came to my mind. But… King Faelan could have killed me on the spot if he wanted to, if he didn’t pity me, or if he didn’t realize that I was in a similar situation to his own.

It would have taken a single movement of his hand for me to lose my life there.

He didn’t.

I should be grateful… I guess.

I sighed a little without the guards noticing. I was really relieved not to be in the same company as the king for now.

Anyway, I got what I wanted.

This way, at least I’ll have a chance to clear my own doubts. I won’t be taking any chances.

I was thinking this and that… when I saw Sith approaching me from the end of the corridor we were traveling down.

It wasn’t that strange, I had given him a mission after all. However, what jolted me out of my thoughts completely was the weird expression on his face.

I couldn’t help but frown, and when he finally came over and sat on my shoulder, I didn’t even give him a chance to speak.

’What happened? You seem to have found something surprising.’

Sith took a deep, really deep breath before answering my question.

’The Prince has… an ability? I don’t know what to call it but he has something that allows him to attract spirits, to interact with them directly. Something like that.’

And then he described what he had seen, one by one. And when he finished his short story…

’Hmm…’

Only more questions arose in my mind.

A superior version of the One Who is Close to Spirits…

And the spirits like him a lot, despite being a wiera, even though he has this ability or whatever it is?

Confused, lost in thought, I was just moving forward when suddenly the guards in front of me stopped moving.

We had arrived at our destination, the entrance to the dungeon where Alith Aroniel was being held. It was two stories below ground, and there were quite a lot of guards in front of it, even for security purposes.

I had the king’s permission, so I entered the dungeons without any problem. And… it didn’t take me long to realize that this place didn’t resemble a dungeon at all.

It felt more like… luxury therapy rooms. Soothing colors, bright and relaxing ambiance, perfect air temperature, and cleanliness…

It was really amazing.

The planet was probably full of people who would rather spend the rest of their lives here than live in freedom. It was that kind of place.

In this way, we passed dozens of prisoners’ rooms, went down one more floor… and stopped in front of one that was quite isolated compared to the other cells, as far as these rooms, where the prisoners stayed, could be called ’cells’.

The door slowly opened, revealing Alith Aroniel, his arms shackled tautly at his sides and forced to kneel.

Alith raised his head slowly. He looked at his visitor, me, through the hair that fell in front of him. But, strangely, he didn’t look surprised or angry. He was completely… calm.

The door to his cell was closed, then one of the guards stepped between us and cast a spell. A tiny sphere appeared around us, enclosing the three of us, and then the guard who had cast the spell stepped back and exited the sphere.

Alith smiled slightly when he saw what had happened, and he was the first to speak.

“A one-on-one meeting, or interrogation, with the traitor prince, huh… I just cannot help but wonder how you convinced my father.”

I approached him quietly at first, but I didn’t get too close either.

“I have my methods.”

Alith widened his smile.

“You’re funny.”

“People around me don’t say that often.”

“Oh? What do they say?”

“That I’m emotionless, manipulative, and mysterious.”

Alith gave a small laugh before making his own comment.

“They’re not wrong about the others, but I’m not so sure about the second one.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly.

“But you should be.”

He paused. He hadn’t completely wiped the smile off his face, but his expression became flatter.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.

“I’m taking all Aroniels into my hands, after all, even if it’s slowly. And you are my biggest help. I should thank you, I guess.”

His smile vanished in an instant.

“My father… he’s not the kind of man to get so caught up in his emotions.”

His reaction was… surprising. Very much so. Still, this was not the time to back down.

“The queen and the princess are, though.”

His gaze turned cold.

“Are you… sure you are Saligia’s enemy?”

Even his tone had become more threatening.

“Because you don’t seem to be much different from us.”

Us, huh…

“Depends on your point of view. Saligia’s goal is to throw Lunerra into chaos, mine is to achieve the future I dream of.”

I narrowed my eyes, giving him the most uncaring look I could muster before I uttered my next words.

“The methods we use to achieve our goals are similar, that’s all. Using what we can use and discarding what is useless.”

I pointed my finger at him, slightly tilting my hand on my cane.

“And you… were useful, you did everything you were supposed to do perfectly. You put one of your family’s countless strings in my hands, and also opened the door for me to take the others. But… that was it, you no longer have a purpose. You don’t matter.”

I saw his muscles tense, as if… preparing.

“If I don’t matter… why are you here, talking to me?”

“Like I just said, to discard what is useless. You need to be thrown away so that your mother and sister become even more unstable.”

A deep silence fell between us. I didn’t speak and neither did he for several seconds.

But…

“So… you are not here to meet me, but to kill me…”

He fell silent again. After almost half a minute without answering his question…

“I don’t have a problem with dying, you know? In fact, it would be a good ending for me.”

He stretched a little, opening and closing his fingers a few times, even though his hands were chained, as if they were numb and he was preparing to use them.

“But… I can take you with me before I die, with the guards so far away and you so close.”

If he reacts to what I say now…

“Nah, you don’t have to worry.”

I curled my lips up, offering him the coldest and at the same time… sinister smile possible.

“I’ll take good care of your family, they won’t look for you in your absence…”

And one with a hint of a hidden excitement.

“Especially your sister.”

And it happened.

The caora around Alith suddenly trembled, an ominous atmosphere surrounded me.

“You… don’t have to worry too.”

His eyes were so cold, looking at me as if I were a simple animal he could tear apart.

“Because I’ll make sure I kill you h-”

But when I simply raised my hand, he couldn’t help but stop abruptly.

Why?

Because I drew all the caora he intended to use to my side, without letting him draw a drop of it into his body.

And he just stared at me looking confused.

“…?”

I let out a deep sigh.

“It’s okay, calm down. I was just faking it.”

At first, his face took on a blank expression. Then tiny traces of surprise appeared.

“Huh?”

“Like I said, I was faking it.”

I waited a moment for him to understand what I was saying and then continued.

“I was trying to figure out what your real purpose was, and… I got it.”

Only then did he understand what I was saying, his eyes gradually widening.

“Y- you…”

But I didn’t let him finish.

“Now I know what kind of person you are, what you’re trying to do.”

“…”

“You’ve been trying to get yourself killed from the very beginning so that Saligia would lose its greatest advantage over Eshaware. So that the Aroniels, your family, would learn the truth and be able to accept the death of their son and move on with their lives by killing his replacement, ’you’.”

Alith did not acknowledge any of what I said, he continued to look at me with a puzzled expression.

After a short while, when he realized I was silent, he tilted his head slightly forward. After swallowing almost imperceptibly, his lips curled up as wide as they could.

And…

“Hah…”

He started to laugh.

“Ahahahahahah!”

But it didn’t last too long.

“Ah, I stopped… Okay, okay. I stopped. Haaaaah…”

He took a very deep breath, then turned to me, keeping his smile. There was a madness in his expression that was impossible to miss, and he looked directly into my eyes.

“I’ve never seen someone so far from the truth before in my life…”

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I didn’t react, I wasn’t even surprised.

“Alith.”

But he didn’t stop.

“Wow! I didn’t expect you to have such a wild imagination. Am I that good at acting?”

“I can help you.”

He paused momentarily. For a few brief seconds, he even seemed stunned. But, then, collecting himself together, he continued.

“Don’t believe the story you’ve made up in your own head, the moment you get me out of here, I’ll rip your head off your body.”

Honestly… he looked serious, especially in the last sentence.

But that was it.

“You’re a horrible liar, please stop it… at least before I start to feel ashamed for you.”

And he just went rigid after that. I called out softly, trying hard not to roll my eyes.

Not to him, but to my surroundings.

“Hey, I know you’re listening, you can hide from the guards, but you can’t hide from me. I have a skill similar to the prince’s.”

Nothing happened.

Until my next words.

“I’m trying to help the prince here, can you at least support me a little?”

And… I got an answer.

Suddenly, there were sparkles everywhere, like rainbows.

Tiny by tiny, just like Sith described, dozens of spirits appeared, looking toward us.

And… they all had a pleading look on their faces.

They didn’t even open their mouths to say a word, not that they needed to.

I focused back on the prince, who couldn’t take his eyes off the spirits, who were supporting everything I said.

“As I said.”

And then he turned to me, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide.

I repeated what I had just said.

“I can help you.”

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