Newfear

Talia: "The Sixth Betrayal... Baron Kimri Akimont. Year 1415.

Betrayal needs no sword... Sometimes, a single drop of poison is enough to erase the glory of an entire kingdom.

When Baron Kimri heard those words, his head snapped up suddenly, his heart seemingly skipping a beat. Time seemed to freeze, and everything around him turned blurry. A heavy sensation overcame him, as if the ground beneath his feet had crumbled. A cold shiver ran down his spine, as if this moment marked his inevitable end.

In the year 1415, the fourth year of King Irvin I's reign, the king fell into a spiral of mysterious illness, losing his physical strength, unable to fight or even move swiftly. The doctors were unable to determine the cause, but one of them suspected a rare poison extracted from the Pale Kraken... a venomous sea creature found only in the deep waters off Arcadia's eastern coast.

Acquiring the poison was not easy, but it was accessible to those with wealth and influence. Among them was Baron Kimri Akimont, a seemingly loyal figure in the royal court. Akimont was close to the palace, responsible for overseeing court banquets... a position that made him the perfect agent to carry out such a crime.

His involvement was only uncovered when a devoted cook reported his suspicious behavior to Commander Variss, prompting a raid on his residence. Small vials containing traces of the poison were found, along with encrypted letters exchanged with unknown parties.

After weeks of mounting tension, the servant responsible for procuring the poison was apprehended while attempting to flee across the border with a large sum of money... his reward for his betrayal. Under intense interrogation, he confessed everything, revealing that the poison had been acquired at Baron Akimont's command. The baron had initially instructed him to lace the king's food during select banquets. The plan was simple: to weaken the king gradually, rendering him incapable of making critical decisions and allowing Akimont to gain further control.

The poison had not been administered in one dose but rather introduced gradually into the king's meals during the final months of 1414, making his decline appear natural rather than an act of foul play.

Pale Kraken venom does not kill swiftly. Instead, it weakens the muscles, rendering movement painful and restricted, preventing the king from fighting back or escaping if faced with an assassination attempt."

At that moment, Baron Kimri could not even rise to his feet. He remained on the ground, his legs trembling, his heart aching… or perhaps it had stopped altogether. It was as if his very soul had left his body.

Talia continued, her voice sharp as a blade, reading aloud with unwavering conviction, exposing the crimes and betrayals of prominent nobles... entire families, even. Each name she uttered fell like a heavy stone in the hall, thick with held breath. Each revealed crime was like an invisible dagger stabbing into the fraying fabric of trust among the gathered elite.

Talia: "The final passage of the manuscript…

In a kingdom riddled with unspoken treachery, where soldiers show only feigned loyalty to those who stand at the frontlines, and where leaders weave their conspiracies in the shadows at the cost of innocent lives, betrayal is not a tragedy... it is the unveiled truth of a world we once believed was just. Betrayal is nothing more than the revelation of a hidden reality, once veiled by false hope. And as for blood... it is the price everyone pays in the end to lift the curtain."

When Talia finished reading, there was no sound in the hall except for rapid breathing and the frantic beating of hearts.

The nobles stood like specters, unable to process the fact that their names had been exposed... that the entire world now knew of their crimes.

But she did not grant them the luxury of time to comprehend further.

Talia lifted her head, her eyes sweeping over the hall, which had transformed into a graveyard of secrets. This was the moment the old pillars of the kingdom crumbled... the moment masks meant for immortality were torn away, revealing the wrinkles concealed beneath gold. Betrayal now appeared as a deep scar across the face of history.

In that instant, the air was no longer an empty space between walls; it bore the weight of centuries past, carrying the voices of souls who had fallen because of these traitors crowned in deceit. Now, they stood under a ceiling that seemed to shrink upon them, as though the walls themselves were preparing to devour them.

There was no need to shout... her voice cut through them like the inescapable sting of guilt. Each name she pronounced was a hammer strike upon bones hollowed by treachery. Each crime she revealed was like extracting a poisoned needle from the kingdom's heart… but too late.

Even King Blatir, once believed to be the absolute ruler, had been nothing more than another pawn... just another fallen piece in a game far greater than his reign. He had met his end as a cold corpse beneath tattered curtains, as though he had never truly ruled this throne.

Talia took a slow breath, as the thick silence hung over the hall. The sound of ragged breathing, the pounding of hearts like the drums of a losing war, the frantic darting of eyes... like trapped animals searching for escape in a room that no longer felt familiar, among faces that were once trusted but were now a blend of terror and doubt.

She gave them no chance to flee. With a voice as frigid as ice, she spoke.

Talia: "The time has come… Sir Variss, arrest the criminals."

And in an instant, silence exploded into chaos.

Screams rang out, mingled with desperate sobs and futile protests. Some nobles scrambled frantically, as if trying to flee a sinking ship, while others stood frozen, silent, like corpses that had delayed realizing they were already dead. The cleverest among them said nothing... their eyes gleamed with buried panic beneath a mask of composure, their minds racing to find an escape from this nightmare. But the doors were shut. Escape was no longer an option.

Ronissa, Her hands trembled, as if she were trying to grasp something invisible to keep her balance. Her gaze shifted to Talia, who stood with an impenetrable coolness. "You... you did this!" Ronissa shook her head, as if trying to force the words out of her throat, choked with shock. I will make you pay for your words, you s..."

But before she could say more... The royal guards advanced. their steps heavy and deliberate, like the tolling of destiny's clock. The eyes of Satheron, the stern Duke, were fixed on Talia, as if he were trying to read in her features what remained unspoken. But this time, his gaze was sharper, like a sword suspended in midair.

Ronissa turned to her husband, her eyes wide with panic and fury. "Satheron!" she screamed, her voice trembling between fear and indignation. "Will you stay silent and let them do this to me? I am your wife! I am the Duchess of this land!"

But Satheron did not move. He remained standing like a marble statue, silent, his eyes still fixed on Talia, as if drawing from her the strength of his silence.

"You know I'm innocent!" Ronissa continued to shout as the guards roughly pulled her hands behind her back. "This is a conspiracy! Talia... that damn owl! she orchestrated all of this!!"

Yet her words were lost in the air, like a scream in an empty valley. Satheron did not even blink. His silence was more painful than the guards' restraints.

"Satheron, please!" her voice finally broke as she was dragged away. "Don't let them do this to me... don't leave me alone!"

But the Duke remained silent, as if he had become part of the high walls of the hall.

The guards moved swiftly, the clinking of chains echoing as they locked around the wrists of men who once thought themselves above the law. The clang of iron against marble sounded like funeral bells, announcing the end of one era and the birth of another.

Talia did not move.

Her eyes were cold, observing the downfall as an artist studies his final masterpiece before stepping away, as a judge watches the condemned before the blade falls. There was no mercy in her gaze... no pity for those who had once stood atop the corpses of the innocent, building their power upon bones and blood.

Talia: "Betrayal is unforgivable."

The words left her lips like a final verdict... not merely spoken, but a blade drawn, a door sealed forever.