Ashen Demon's Servant | Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Act VI

It took a while to find the princess, since Dimitri had insisted on checking every room to ensure they did not miss anything, but Edelgard finally found her, at the highest tower in the palace. Of course she would be there—for such a tyrant ruler, where better for her to stand than a place where she could oversee all like a god?

The princess did not turn around when Edelgard burst into the room, continuing to stand by the window, watching her kingdom crumble around her.

Oh, how Edelgard had dreamt of this moment for so long! To unleash her anger on this demon who killed Hubert, to finally obtain justice and let his soul rest. She gave up so much to gain the strength she needed to confront her. And here she finally was, but the princess would not even look at her. Even now, Edelgard was far beneath her.

She could not stop the anger from spilling into her voice. "Byleth von Eisner!" Edelgard shouted, clenching her fist around the axe in her hand.

That seemed to catch her attention. She turned around, and Edelgard froze.

This was not the princess.

They were wearing her clothes and they even had her face. But Edelgard immediately knew this was not the person they were looking for.

The princess' stand-in seemed to realize too, as their face expression hardened. Don't question it, they seemed to be willing. Go along with it.

Edelgard opened her mouth. There was so much she wanted to say, but in this moment, the only word she could choke out was, "Why?"

The proxy did not have time to answer. Down the hallway, the thundering of footsteps could be heard. Moments later, Dimitri barged into the room.

"Did you find her?" he asked. When he spotted the person standing by the window, his strained expression contorted into animalistic rage. "You!" he shouted.

Could he not see that this was not the person they were looking for? Edelgard tried to say something, but it was like she was not even in the room. As far as Dimitri was concerned, the only other person here was Princess Byleth.

He pointed the bloodied lance at her. "You...You Ashen Demon..." he growled. "I will separate your head from your neck!"

Edelgard waited for the proxy's face to pale, for them to start shaking. She waited for them to back out. There was a mistake. I'm not the princess. She made me switch with her and she ran away. Dimitri was always a force of nature, but this time the rage had infiltrated his brain—he was more terrifying than ever. Edelgard would not blame them for being afraid.

But they did not. In fact, they almost looked bored.

"How dare you speak to me in such a way, you boar?" they said.

Edelgard did nothing as Sylvain held the proxy's hands behind their back, leading them out. Ingrid followed behind them closely, making sure the princess did not get away, but the captured princess did not struggle or show any signs of wanting to escape.

Dimitri was seated on one of the chairs, Dedue attempting to calm him down. He wanted to execute them then and there, and it took three other soldiers to hold him back.

"That woman!" he roared. "I will tear you apart, limb by limb..." He was not like this when Edelgard first reached out to him, but it did not matter. She did not expect to rely on him for long, anyways. She only needed him and his army to break into the castle.

Edelgard followed them out of the room. "I need a minute to talk," she said. "With the Princess."

"Oh, I could give you a few minutes of my time, princess," Sylvain chuckled, before letting out an "ow" of pain when Ingrid jabbed him with his elbow.