**Wilhelm Yuwen**
You can imagine my disappointment when none of my wives and children greeted me, except Julia, who hugged me so much I began to fear for my spine. But my sons thankfully received a much warmer welcome. And my mood immediately started to improve until I saw Janus approach Ruby, who stood up, exposing her pregnant belly. My heart dropped like an anvil. Don’t tell me he…
But it got even worse when Janus turned out not to be the father. I had given the boy my approval and blessing to marry her if he so chose. I had given him hope, and that hope had now been crushed. Thankfully, Joel pulled Janus aside, who had begun to stare at Ruby with empty eyes.
Only much later would I learn that that meeting had been orchestrated by my dear Olivia, who had been convinced that Janus was the culprit behind Ruby’s pregnancy. Usually, she had a pretty good nose for this kind of stuff, but it seems she had been wrong… for the first time…
Shortly after this rather awkward family reunion, I was at it again. Work had been piling up on my desk, forming a shaky tower of daily siege reports by Jack, performance review of the mage’s progress in Ruby’s classes, messages from other noble houses, and the king that had reached us by bird, as well as many other miscellaneous forms and documents.
However, that stack of paper would still have to wait until tomorrow, as I was too busy with other things. I’m not procrastinating, I swear.
I did a quick once-over of all the damage that had occurred during my absence. We began preparations for a funeral for all the deceased. And I went with Jack into the dungeon not only to meet our Ibasan prisoner but also someone I had assumed was my friend and ally.
We had held off on torture since we already had a strong suspicion of who his collaborators were. So, this visit was, except for simple confirmation, mostly just one last goodbye to an old rival whom I had grown so fond of that I had begun to trust him blindly.
We didn’t say a word on our way deeper into the dungeon while passing many empty cells. We weren’t in the mood to talk until Jack stopped.
“What a disappointment.”
And he was right, I haven’t been this disappointed in years. I nodded approvingly.
“Can you believe it? They were so close before, and now it turns out they aren’t even his.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?”
“About ruby, of course. She isn’t just pregnant, she has twins, that’s why I said they. What did you think I was talking about?”
“I thought you meant Rodrick.”
“Oh, Rodrick. Yeah, yeah, right.”
Had I really left my fort to him… maybe William would have been a better pick.
When we reached our destination, the previously heavy mood started to return as I slowly opened the door.
Rodrick looked dreadful.
Gone was his bright, determined smile, replaced now with a sunken visage covered in a thick, messy, dirty red beard. His armor has been replaced with mere rags, revealing a messy scar that looked like melted wax on his right shoulder.
The moment we went over the threshold, his dark eyes stared at me with pure hatred. His chackles slightly clinging against each other as he turned his head.
“You won’t believe me, but I never hated you. I found you frustrating, even annoying at times. But you were a worthy rival, and for that I considered you a friend. I believed that when I married her, you would finally give up and that perhaps you had just been testing me. To see if I would have been worthy of her hand if I were strong enough to protect her. But it appears I have been wrong from the very beginning. Neither do I deserve her; I wasn’t even able to protect her, nor have you ever truly given up. Instead, you conspired with our greatest enemy, stabbed one of your comrades in the back, you attempted to kidnap the woman you had sworn to protect, and almost killed her handmaid.”
I had expected some reaction, but he just stared at the wall to his left, his eyes empty.
“Your execution will be tomorrow.”
Rodrick’s eyes looked at me once more, now free of any emotion as he said,
“Can I see her one more time?”
Even if he was an old friend, he had become a traitor against crown and country, and perhaps even worse, he had broken his own oath. There was only one answer I could give him.
“No.”
His eyes shook, and tears began to fall.
“I-I understand, could you just promise me that you will protect her in my stead?”
“I will protect her with everything I have until I die and even past that.”
And with our final goodbyes, Jack and I turn around and close the door.