A throbbing pain. That was the first thing that immediately interrupted the internal void in Maren's head when everything around him seemed to be blanketed in darkness. 

 

He felt… so very tired… 

 

… was he still dreaming…? He didn't know… 

 

Something soft beneath him sent a comfortable warmth and peace through his body, similar to every time when he found that he was in fact not asleep anymore, and had actually arrived in the world of the living once more. 

 

He could hear the chirp of a bird outside… and voices. 

 

Yes, the bartering of the people on a marketplace that he had grown so accustomed to every morning… had he overslept…? Was Amaragi already awake…? 

 

But then… why did he feel as though he had forgotten something important…

 

The darkness around him quickly proved to be due to his eyes that had still been closed up to this point, and when he slowly but surely began to open them, the previous feeling of familiarity and serene calm immediately faded away again. 

 

He was in a room of sorts… and the softness beneath him stemmed from the comfortable bed that he was situated upon. That much had been true, going along with the images his mind had instinctively conjured at the familiar sensations of every morning. 

 

But then his eyes would glimpse at the entire rest of the chamber, and that illusion would immediately shatter again and again, regardless how often he wanted to convince himself that he was still inside of the room within the palace, where each morning he would realize that Amaragi always woke up earlier than him, and her voice almost sweetly echoed in his mind like a gentle whisper. 

 

Good morning, Maren, rise and shine~

 

And he remembered that he would simply not want to each and every time, unless Amaragi somehow incentivised him to do otherwise. Which she always managed to do. 

 

"So you are finally awake again."

 

But this time, it would not be like this anymore. 

 

His eyes widened in shock before they immediately darted towards the source of the voice. And sure enough, not far away from the bed was a figure, situated upon a wooden chair with their arms crossed and their head leaning slightly against the wall. 

 

A figure that was not Amaragi, but a figure that he was more than familiar with nonetheless. 

 

Maya was eyeing him with an unreadable expression, her eyes seemingly looking him over for his condition. But other than that, the Norian ambassador remained silent afterwards, almost as if she expected him to bombard her with a barrage of questions. Or to assault her. 

 

Although the latter option immediately proved to be out of the question when Maren's hand instinctively grasped the side of his belt beneath the blanket, only to realize that his blade was obviously not there anymore. 

 

"So, since that realization is out of the way, are there not any other questions that are burning in your mind?" Maren almost gasped when he looked back at her, noticing that her eyebrows were merely raised now, albeit her general expression remained as stoic as before besides that. 

 

"It's unnecessary when you could just explain yourself instead." his voice was cold, or at least, he tried to sound as unfazed as possible, but within that moment, the memories had returned into his mind. 

 

And they made him feel all but unfazed. 

 

Maya actually grinned slightly at that as she faced the ground for a moment, her arms still crossed. 

 

"I simply wanted to give you the illusion that you had some freedom in this, but I concede. Very well, I will start with this: how do you feel?" the grin had vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she was once again looking him over slightly. 

 

Although Maren's unresponsiveness was an answer in itself, his barely narrowed eyes simply prompted her to heave a small sigh. 

 

"I am asking this because I have almost given up on your awakening. Perhaps you may not realize it, but you have almost been passing out for an entire week."

 

"What…?" his breath almost escaped him when a sudden image tore through his mind, reminding him of the arrow that had pierced into his flesh without abandon. And his hand immediately touched upon the very same spot where it had impacted, only to feel a fresh piece of bandage wrapped around it. 

 

"A potent poison. Slowed the rate of your heartbeat dramatically, preventing you from bleeding out on the battlefield." Maren's eyes simply narrowed with barely suppressed irritation. 

 

"And I should thank you for that?" the sarcasm evident, Maya merely smiled in an almost remorseful way. 

 

"Originally, I had been planning to shoot you with this arrow either way. But only in a split second I decided to aim for the princess instead… regardless, you know yourself by now that the outcome was still the same. I compliment you for your sense of heroism." a sarcastic remark in return. A huff was all that escaped Maren afterwards, albeit his inner anger remained. 

 

Simply for everything that she had done. 

 

"I presume we have caught you quite off guard with our reinforcements." a small bit of tension was brewing inside of the room, even without Maren having a weapon at his disposal. For if looks could kill, Maren was very close to do just that. 

 

"You must be very desperate…" 

 

"Remember what I have once told you, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I was hoping you had caught on to that when last we traveled together." 

 

"I have seen the people you have employed in the army, and tell me, how many people have you forced away from their homes for this bloodshed?" 

 

For once, there was an actual moment of silence within the room. 

 

"... you can believe it or not, but it was their will and decision. You may despise me, but there is no true good or evil in this world. When faced with the decision to be further suppressed by the Empire, or to go into war with the knowledge that they may lay down their lives in the process, that decision was quickly made. I have nothing further to add on this." 

 

Maren's hand almost trembled beneath the blanket. 

 

"You may be pleased, however, to hear that we had been unable to storm the capital." for the briefest of moments, the rush of feelings within Maren's entire body was overshadowed by the sheer amount of surprise. 

 

"Why would you simply tell me that?" it was in that moment when Maya suddenly stared him dead in the eye. 

 

"Because I will prove to you once more that the world is not just black and white. In the wake of our advantageous position, our combined troops had managed to even barge into the palace itself, almost killing the Emperor to finally bring an end to all of this. But never before have I laid eyes upon a sight that was as heartless and gruesome as this…" finally, Maya's arms laid down upon her lap as her hands tightened into fists. 

 

"... the crown princess ordered the Imperial army to set the entire town ablaze. Not only annihilating the majority of our own people, but also allowing her own to perish in the flames. All just to repel us, forcing us to retreat. Now tell me, was that more righteous than our own actions?"

 

As another period of silence stretched inside of the room, Maya's eyes actually widened for the first time when she saw the edges of Maren's lips curling upwards with obvious disbelief in his eyes. 

 

"... you're lying." he said nothing further, and Maya almost lost all of her composure in that instant as she felt the sheer amount of blood boiling in her veins. 

 

But alas, her rational mind proved to be superior. 

 

"Then you are simply ignorant. Or perhaps too blinded by the princess's facade." these words were spoken with the coldest and harshest tone that barely escaped through her nearly gritted teeth. 

 

"As of now, you are all but dead to the world, aside from the few people like me who know about both your identity, as well as your survival. The Emperor was still gravely injured, enough for him to be unable to continue his reign for the time being. Which is why the crown princess is acting in his stead as of now. And I believe you know her name well enough so that I may avoid speaking it out aloud, lest I mention the crazed princess directly."

 

With that, Maya rose from the chair before she headed for the door at the end of the room. 

 

"Then why would you keep me here? For what purpose?" again, Maren's eyes were all but narrowed when Maya briefly halted in her motions, actually turning around to face him once more. 

 

"I already told you before, I had originally planned to shoot you with that arrow anyway. Do you truly not realize? Holding you captive means to hold a part of the crown princess herself captive. Information is a tactician's most valuable asset. Her sheer obsession is not only just that, it has proved to be a threat to anything around her. With your presumptive death, I wonder what else she might be capable of now… perhaps then you will finally come to see the truth."

 

Again, she made a move for the door, but just as her hand touched the handle, she cast a last glance at him. 

 

"Oh, and lest I forget… welcome in Norin, Maren. Or shall I say, welcome back home."

 

And she spoke no further before she finally stepped out of the room, leaving Maren all to himself. 

 

---

 

AN:

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