Regicide, Part 3
Rebecca walked up to the King, and sneered at him. The old man looked as if a stiff breeze would do him in, but the fact he said he'd been waiting eighty years for this made her talkative.
"What do you mean by that?" Rebecca asked, motioning for Kate to keep watch while she questioned him.
"I failed. We failed." The King said, his face sad as he looked at Rebecca. "I never realized how many enemies Reggie had. I should have been more careful."
"You will refer him as Duke Reginald, old man!" Rebecca shouted, snapping her fingers. Vines burst from the floor and restrained the King in his chair. "Now, continue."
"Nothing else to say. I failed. Go on, then." The King said. "I bet you have a grand vision on how you'll do things differently as the Queen of Whitemire."
"Nonsense. Whitemire will end with you. When I pick up the pieces of what remains in a few months, it'll be an Empire, risen from the cold ashes of the Rozen Republica." Rebecca answered, dusting her hands.
"Hmph. Wish I could be there to see it." The King said with a smirk.
"Fret not, your death will usher in an era of untold peace in Southern Karand. Now die." Rebecca said.
The vines squeezed him tightly, the pressure growing until he simply burst under the pressure, spraying the area with blood. Rebecca huffed, and turned to face Kate.
"You're probably wondering why I made sure Victoria wasn't present."
"I was, yeah. Why's that?" Kate asked.
"Because they might have recognized each other. There was a chance Victoria might have found for a brief moment her honour and prevented me from killing him."
"She knew him?" Kate asked.
"You forget who she is, because of her mental state. She's still a Valorian, once the most powerful crime family in Southern Karand until we put them all to the sword." Rebecca said, as she perused the King's writing desk. "She's the insane daughter, the one they tried to lock away. She even told me as such."
"What of it?" Kate asked, looking around the room herself.
"What if she realized this worthless sack of meat I just executed was her actual father?" Rebecca asked, as she found a letter. "Oh, this one is addressed to me, well that's interesting."
"Fuck off, really?" Kate asked, incredulous.
"They were planning something genius that I'm going to simply make illegal in the Empire." Rebecca said, beginning to read the letter. "They were going to install Victoria as a puppet ruler once the King died, saying she was kept hidden for her protection. The things we discovered in the Valorian family archives surprised even Victoria, I'll admit."
"So what's in that letter?" Kate asked, pocketing some of the jewellery scattered around the room.
"It's twofold. A last will and testament, as well as a personal apology to the Ashe family." Rebecca said, continuing to read. "A pointless sentiment as I'm the last living member, but at least he admits his failures, something I appreciate."
"We done here?" Kate asked, looking around the room.
"Yeah. In time we'll return to this city, and tear down this castle brick by brick, but not today. Let's get out of here." Rebecca said, motioning for Kate to follow her.
As Kate and Rebecca left the room, two other women passed by them to enter completely unseen to them, Vordea and Eigengrau. Eigengrau grinned when she saw the bloody mess of a corpse the King of Whitemire was turned into.
"Quite the overachiever, is she not?" Eigengrau asked, pointing at the King.
"Hmmm." Vordea said, looking around as her tentacles slithered all over the King. "Allow me to be poetic for a moment. Here lays the man she couldn't reach, her father who would have guided her so well. Here's the place she couldn't reach, a brighter reflection of the twisted world she grew up in."
"Victoria Valorian." Eigengrau stated, to which Vordea nodded.
"It's not too late to change her fate by force." Vordea said as she dripped ink all over the room.
"This is unlike you." Eigengrau answered, crossing her arms. "She is one mortal."
"Perhaps. Perhaps. I never liked her story, it seemed needlessly tragic." Vordea said, sighing.
"Indeed. Mental illness, pedophilia, murder, vampirism, and soon an early death. A cautionary tale, or a soul simply marked with tragedy?" Eigengrau said, her smile gone.
"What's the difference?" Vordea asked, as she yanked the soul of the King's body. He seemed surprised to find two Gods looking expectantly at him.
"L-Lady Eigengrau!" He stammered. "Lady Vordea!"
"Let's skip the small talk, Gregory." Vordea said, crossing her arms. "I'm going to ask you a question. Would Victoria Valorian have had a better life if she had lived with you?"
"Vicky? Oh absolutely not, I'm sorry to say." Gregory replied, shaking his head. "Her running away with Serge was the best outcome she could have had. Look, I was a puppet King. I wouldn't have had the power to resist the Valorians. She would have been locked up in the dungeon here at best, madam."
"And at worst?" Eigengrau asked.
"You know her mental problems. I might have been ordered to enable her to make her more compliant." Gregory answered, a sad look on his face. "No matter where she ends up, her life's going to be tragic, isn't it?"
"She is currently killing five children in the castle as we speak." Eigengrau answered passively. "The divine curse has loosed the last of the restraints on her morality, it seems."
"Divine curse? She has vampirism?" Gregory asked, a shocked look on his face.
"Acquired from Rebecca Ashe, no less." Eigengrau replied, a small smile. "Her upcoming death with serve as a catalyst for real change in Southern Karand, I can assure you that."
"Enough of this. It's time to go, old man." Vordea said, interrupting. Gregory agreed, and nodded his head.