NOVEL WEB Ch.74 – Heart in Doubt
POV: Shalotte
Luchael's words continued to echo inside her mind... how could a person really believe that Nightmare Tyrant was an innocent creature with so much conviction? And he had even dared to insinuate that her noble princess was actually some sort of monster in human form! That insinuation still had the power to make her blood boil in her veins!
But then why did she doubt? If she was so certain that her peer's words were false, why was a part of her trying to warn her of the truth in them? As a leporan, she was more than aware that her people tended to always be honest except in playful scenarios where lying was more used as a game than for something serious... Was Luchael perhaps the classic black sheep?
Shalotte tried to remember who she had pledged allegiance to, and that was beyond her feelings for Dyenna... Did she really want to become a traitor to the kingdom just because she felt that something was wrong? And her family? Surely the King would have made up for her if she had not kept her commitments...
The low branch of a tree struck her in the forehead, making her eyes widen and startle; she and the others were on their way to Khalrinda, accompanied now not only by Darren's men but also by an escort that Dyenna had requested for her triumphant journey home... The most ill-thinking people obviously could have said that the gesture was intended to equal in number the men who were more loyal to the Duke than to the Princess during the return journey and not for safety reasons, a return journey that thanks to the Hoquins would have been much faster than on the outward journey.
'Maybe I should try to talk to Luchael again or hear what the other prisoner has to say, maybe I can find out more when we get to Khalrinda,' she thought, putting her hand to her chin and looking at the cell-charriot behind them.
As she looked back in front of her, the leporan locked eyes with Darren. The man smiled affably at her and she nodded her head undecided on how to behave, since it seemed to her that beyond the courtesy that is due between nobles, there was a certain tension between him and her lady. The problem was that Darren didn't seem willing to shut up, and moments later Shalotte's long ears spotted the characteristic sound of a hoquin's hooves approaching, mingling with those of the monster she was riding.
"Excuse me if I disturb you, I have only noticed that you are thoughtful and I was curious to know what is preventing you from enjoying this journey," said the duke pushing the hoquin to join that of the leporan and to maintain the same speed.
"Really?" Shalotte looked at him trying to pretend it wasn't the truth, "I think you misinterpreted my relaxed expression!" She smiled widely.
Darren looked at her silently with a smirk that implied that he wasn't buying the lie.
After all, the leporans were not even that good as liars.
"My peer, he doesn't seem to regret serving Nightmare Tyrant at all," she explained in a low voice, "I can't understand how it is possible for someone to refuse to accept reality even when it is so obvious as to be undeniable."
"Maybe he's convinced he's done the right thing?" The duke proposed, rubbing his chin, "you can do many things when you think you are right."
The answer touched Shalotte deeper than she expected, beyond the simplicity of that observation, there was something that created a sort of dilemma if accepted as correct. "And how does anyone know if what they do isn't right? If he knew it was wrong, he wouldn't even do it."
"There's actually no way to know if something is right or wrong until you can test the consequences," Darren shrugged, "so we could say that doing something can be right or wrong while doing nothing is neither."
Shalotte tilted her head slightly, confused.
"If something is established as right or wrong depending on its consequences, then doing nothing leads to no consequences, and therefore to the impossibility of determining whether something is right or wrong."
The leporan's ears moved imperceptibly, another hoquin was approaching from the opposite side of Shalotte, thus putting her in the middle between the duke and the one who a few moments later turned out to be the future queen of Heliolite. "Can I intrude? I'm curious to know what you're talking about!"
"Oh, my lady," Darren straightened up, "no big deal, your personal guard was wondering why the followers of Nightmare Tyrant are loyal to him even though they are aware that they are serving an evil creature."
"Interesting... and what is your opinion?" Dyenna asked, fixing her eyes straight on the duke.
"That they are loyal to Nightmare Tyrant because they have no reason to be against it, after all what do we really know about the monster we keep calling Nightmare Tyrant?"
Dyenna raised an eyebrow, "he had subdued the villagers and when he saw that he had no escape route he started a fire in which many people died, and this just to try to escape from us," she pointed out, "there is not much more to investigate: Nightmare Tyrant has proven his evil by his own actions and those who continue to follow him despite this are deluded."
Shalotte couldn't help but think about what Luchael had told her: salmadrers were weak monsters and quite common across most of the continent, even in territories beyond the Cloudbreakers, and no salmadrer was able to breathe flames or cause fires with their magical affinities. This led the leporan to observe Dyenna more carefully... That feeling of wrong continued to grip her stomach, there was more than what she saw, more than what she wanted to see beyond the love she felt for the princess.
"And what do you think about it, my dear?" Dyenna asked to the leporan.
"I... I think that sometimes some people might be inclined not to judge the information they have correctly," replied Leporan after a moment's hesitation, "I hope that the lord your father will not decide to condemn these servants of evil to death, so that they may have an opportunity to repent and see the wrongness in their actions."
"It's hard to say, I'm going to try to talk to him about imprisoning them for life rather than hanging them as collaborators of the one who killed first my beloved brother with his own hands and then that kind and peaceful creature that was my sister with that fire," Dyenna's tone was harsh and angry, yet Shalotte suddenly had the impression that the anger was somehow counterfeit.
'No, it must be Luchael's fault, somehow his words are making me see things that aren't there,' she said to herself in an attempt to defeat those gnawing thoughts.
"As you know, the human is a High Sister of Gornowayl," Darren said with a sigh, "it is better if no one makes hasty decisions about her, otherwise we will have the wrath of an entire religious community turned towards us."
"As if the servants of Gornowayl could do anything against the royal family of Heliolite..." replied Dyenna, "but that's fine, once we get to Khalrinda we will talk to my parents about that too, hoping that the anger for the loss of Rosalia will not blind them and that they will be able to contain their righteous anger as I am doing."
'I have to talk to Luchael again,' thought Shalotte after listening to her two interlocutors, 'I have to be sure that I'm not the one in the wrong.'
