TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

Love is War

{Tessia Eralith}

-His majesty, Blaine Glayder!" Shouted the guard at the entrance of the room after opening the large, luxurious door before standing to the side with a military salute.

Focusing on the opening, I saw the said human king, wearing his usual flashy and grandiose royal attire, walk while caring an expression much different from what his clothes and title would make you expect.

Barely containing an annoyed sigh as his eyes landed on me, the man was far past the point of even pretending to not be annoyed by my very existence, much less by having a meeting with me.

Dismissively gesturing for the guard to leave, we quickly found ourselves alone in the overly long room containing a similarly long oval table which I was silted on one end off, while Glayder sat down on the other.

-I suppose that there is no need to go over the event that lead us to have this conversation, now, is there?" Rhetorically asked Blaine as he glared at me, trying to avoid digging himself deeper in by not referring to the actual event.

-Indeed." I answered with a slight shrug. "There is no need to remind yourselves of how Lance Bairon publicly threatened to kill one of my subordinates, the same one which you had captured, interrogated and used as a hostage a few years ago to try and get rid of me. We can just move on to the negotiations." I said, purposefully contradicting myself by stating the exact facts he wanted to avoid while stealing the momentum from him, as he would not be the one forced to respond to my comments.

Visibly annoyed by my statement but knowing that he couldn't contradict it as it was both the truth and that I still had leverage over him since this information was still private, Blaine decided to counter my argument on another point.

-Then we can start those negotiations without me having to remind you that Bairon Wykes acted on his own accord outside of my control, and that this thus doesn't represent a rupture in our agreement."

-Of course, of course, we can just claim that Bairon was part of the quote on quote "none-decrepit, multi racial group of angry nobles" that tried to assassinate me a few years back and who have somehow escaped capture ever since." I answered mockingly while containing my laughter, knowing that what I had said was completely outrageous as it would force Blaine to explain that he nominated a criminal as a lance and to throw the entire Wykes family along with their allies under the buss despite them having nothing to do with the situation.

Getting more and more irritated and frustrated with my answers, the human king simply glared at me with a disgruntled look and ignored my comment entirely:

-Considering that, Bairon acted on his own, I do not believe that I should be held directly accountable for this situation and thus shouldn't be liable to pay any damages or have to compensate this girl in any way." He explained, explicitly stating his demands.

-Sure." I answered dismissively, causing him to frown and look at me with a doubtful glance, as he clearly wasn't expecting me to agree to his terms, especially considering that they removed all responsibility from him. "I understand that this wasn't your doing and, that the only person behind this incident and who should barre the blame is Bairon Wykes." I added, laying down a clear deal to put all the blame and responsibility on Bairon, which was exactly what I wanted to do in the first place.

-And what exactly would his punishment look like?" Quizzed the man, waiting for some kind of trap.

-hmm... What about a month of helping with public services?" I answered after taking a small pause to pretend that I was thinking about it.

-What?" spontaneously responded the king in a mix of anxiety and confusion, thinking that this definitively must be some kind of devious trap.

-Just send him over to our city, we'll have him deliver supplies, flatten some terrain, help test a handful of artifacts or survey the state of the roads we built." I explained in a rather casual tone as I laid back in my chair.