The Veneer of Injustice

Part 5

Earth Moon 9, 1527 C.Q

After a few minutes had passed, as we crossed the two-mile mark away from the dungeons' entrance, Corisa spoke softly, "Just Knight?"

I dipped my head to let her know that I was listening.

"If you do not have an objection, I would like to discuss something with you as I have the opportunity," she said, an uncharacteristic note of hesitance in her voice.

I dipped my head again. I was curious to know what she had to say. As Prince Kaldez, I had interacted with her weekly prior to the start of her attempt at teaching the truth three months ago – since then, she had been under house arrest and had been constantly threatened by Hannes – and through my meetings with her, like those with all of my ministers, consisted of orders and threats, I knew that she was extraordinarily gifted with intelligence and precocious wisdom. Her words were often more insightful than those of elders, including my long-serving head of ministers, Benedetta.

Though her parents, Mattes and Elaine, had been known dissenters, Corisa had always demonstrated loyalty to the crown, which had resulted in her elevation from a village teacher to the dean of Emerstones' university as part of the purge that I had initiated in the second year of my reign – I had wished to be rid of my father's advisors, save Benedetta, and I had picked promising, competent young men and women whose families had been disadvantaged by my father and who did not have a reputation for cruelty. I had two reasons for doing so: lessening some corruption and cruelty in my court in a subtle manner and ensuring that the princedom would at least be well-administered even if a tyrant ruled it; as an additional benefit, I hoped that men and women whom I had raised at others' expense would fear me and the loss of their opportunities enough that they would not look closely enough to pierce my veneer of injustice.

Among these young men and women, Corisa had quickly risen in distinction for her efficiency, effectiveness, and adherence to my requirements. Though six other ministers, including the previous Minister of Education, had been sanctioned, she had never mentioned a hint of disloyalty. Thus, despite her family's history, I had made her minister two years ago and granted her request ten months ago to teach her own classes at both the school and university levels. Though I had often suspected that she would eventually dissent and had known of her surreptitious attempts to research the true history of Emerstones over the last six months, I did not address the issue – and, when she had begun to dissent, I allowed her as much time as I could to spread the truth before I absolutely had to suppress her attempts. I had not forgotten the first time that I had seen her as a child, and I knew that she truly loved my princedom.

I focused my attention back on Corisa herself as she spoke again, "Just Knight... First, I wish to thank you again for saving my teachers, my deputies, and me and for confronting Berne for my sake. As I have always heard, your skills are incredible, and even in battle you are gracious. Emerstones is blessed to have you defending us from the worst of His Highness. I have not heard of a single person that he has successfully had tortured over the last six years because of you. I assure you that no one that I have met blames you for not saving us from imprisonment as well – you do so much considering the magnitude of the risks you take all on your own, and we cannot be thankful enough for your simply preventing torture. Particularly since His Highness has no reason to kill because his torture is worse than death." Gratitude and affectionate admiration suffused her voice until those last words, which were tinged with some bitterness.

I dipped my head in acknowledgement. If I had not trained myself to never really change my expression from its composed, cool look, I would be blushing, though I myself was also the prince towards whom she felt that bitterness. She praised me too highly, even as she tried to alleviate the fear that she was right to wonder if I had: I did fear that my people would be disappointed that the Just Knight did not prevent imprisonment.