"Liar!"
The word hit the air and vanished.
No echo returned. No sound bounced back.
And yet, inside the mind of one Elven Prince, it repeated endlessly, crashing again and again like a wave that refused to recede.
Because it was true.
He had lied.
He had lied from the very beginning. His na. His identity. His existence. The foundation of everything he built with her had been a tower of cards, and every card had been a lie stacked carefully atop another.
Even when he spoke of love, even when his emotions and affections had been real, they had co from the sa mouth that spouted lies.
But unbeknownst to him, Princess Kira couldn’t care less about that shit.
Because in her case, it was about the little things. It had always been about all the small details that she had been protecting.
The things she had guarded fiercely and bravely, believing they would soday be shared.
The firsts.
The small, unique monts she had set aside in her heart for soone she believed was waiting for her, only to discover that he may have lived through so many of them sowhere else, with soone else.
The loyalty.
The affection.
The promise of a happily ever after.
Of course, she was distressed about the semantics. About the revelations. About everything she had just learned in rapid succession.
But all of that paled in comparison to the ache she couldn’t ignore.
She took a sharp breath, eyes burning as she stared straight at him.
"If there’s no other person," Princess Kira said, her voice steady but brittle, "and you’re telling you would do whatever it takes, then why didn’t you say anything?"
Her fists clenched at her sides.
"Shouldn’t that have been the first thing you did?"
Crack.
The sound was soft. Internal. Sothing splintering.
"If there really was no one else," she continued, stepping forward, fire in her eyes, "and you wanted a future together, then you should have grabbed it by the horns and run faster!"
Her voice rose despite herself.
"But you didn’t!"
Crack. Crack.
"So you’d better just lie to again," she whispered.
But it sounded like a scream.
"Tell there was soone else."
Her lips trembled.
"Because at least then I could hate you."
Her breath hitched.
"And I wouldn’t still be wondering why I believed you when you said you loved too."
CRAAACK—
Sure enough, dying at Eren’s hands would have been the easier option. Because with that guy, there were no dreams to shatter.
But this? This was sothing else. Everything cracked, and he didn’t know where to look inside of him.
His world collapsed inward, crushing, suffocating.
But what shattered him most was not his own pain.
It was hers.
The formidable Orcish Princess before him looked like she was breaking apart piece by piece.
"If you didn’t want to get married," she said hoarsely, "if you didn’t want to go through thick and thin together, then you should have just said so!"
Her expression twisted, overwheld by too many emotions colliding at once.
Heartbreak.
Pure and unmistakable.
"I wouldn’t have imagined children," she blurted out. "What about Geon, Lumina, and Dave?!"
Her voice cracked, frustration spilling over.
"I even had to find a substitute groom just to buy more ti so I could keep looking for you! Ollie even pre-emptively rejected !"
Her hands trembled now.
"You said you needed ti, and I gave you ti," she said quietly. "But you were never going to be ready, were you?"
__
Rahil had always loved life.
Honestly, he wanted to live for a long ti. That was why he had learned to be careful early on. He watched his surroundings. He asured his words. He stayed quiet when staying quiet was safer, and invisible when being seen ant danger.
He was good at surviving.
But at that mont, Rahil was fairly certain he would die a different kind of death if he let this continue.
Because what Princess Kira had said wasn’t true.
Not even close.
So he spoke.
It was reckless. It was suicidal. It was very likely the last thing he would ever say with all his limbs intact.
But if this was how he was going to die, then he might as well repay his debts properly.
Because, to begin with, that tongue-tied, collapsing Prince was his friend.
"Your Highness," Rahil said, voice steady despite how his heart slamd against his ribs, "I know I am speaking out of turn, and I fully accept whatever punishnt follows, but please know this."
Elior’s head snapped up.
"Rahil!" he called hoarsely, trying to stop him.
But Rahil had already crossed the line.
There was no point stopping now. He was going to die anyway. Might as well finish strong.
"He’s been ready," Rahil said firmly.
"He’s been so ready, he even commissioned a ring for a proper marriage. Even in hiding, he considered that. And if those dwarven artisans hadn’t turned around and sold us out, we wouldn’t have been kidnapped, frozen, and imprisoned for half a year."
Rahil sucked in a sharp breath and barreled forward without stopping.
"You would have been wearing that ring by now," he continued, words spilling out in a rush. "And you both would have at least started on Young Lord Deon!"
The room froze.
Rahil’s face burned red as he realized what he had just blurted out, but it was already too late.
It had to be said.
"And yes," he added quickly, voice cracking just a little, "he lied. He lies terribly, actually. Just this morning, he told he would only be out for a short while. Just to check on things."
Rahil laughed once, sharp and bitter.
"But instead of checking, we stayed perched up on a post for hours."
"HOURS!"
"And what glorious thing were we doing? Well, I was twiddling with my thumbs, but he, he was just staring at you with devoted focus."
"I know he looks unreliable right now," Rahil said, gesturing helplessly. "And a little wilted. And like he might actually collapse any second."
"But Your Highness," he said earnestly, eyes burning, "I swear to you, he is so hopelessly in love with you that he has crawled back from the depths of hell just to be here today."
The words spilled out because they were true.
Rahil had seen it all. Every painful step. Every failure. Every mont Elior had fought just to remain standing, just to remain alive.
So even when Princess Kira stared at him like he had suddenly grown ten eyes and three mouths, Rahil didn’t stop.
What he had not expected, however, was what ca next.
He just didn’t expect the sa guy who had crawled from such depths to be dragged back today, of all days.
For when Rahil looked over to Prince Elior, he was crying tears of blood.
"!!!"
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