Chapter 97: Chapter 84 (Mary)

“You have nothing to offer anymore … this is exactly the unbalanced type of relationship you don’t believe in.” I paled as I realized the truth. She had nothing to gain from continuing on like this, but she also had nothing to lose, a very dangerous situation.

“Perfect score, a hundred points for Lady White! Since I made this out of Arthur” she pointed towards the thing that looked like Arthur but definitely wasn’t. “I have absolutely nothing to give you anymore and you have nothing to gain by supporting me in the future. Our relationship flipped around completely and there is no way we can fix this issue. You have everything you wanted, after all, congratulations on becoming a true duchess again!”

Why was she talking as if she would end my life at any second? I closed my eyes and rather listened to her footsteps than look one more second at the thing she made out of Arthur.

“I am honoured by your kind words.” She wasn’t here to negotiate. She didn’t trust me to keep my word after all, no matter what happened. And yet, something she said to me in the past kept bugging me.

“Wait. Wait. Wait. Before you kill me -”

She burst into laughter and even her new friend chuckled at my words. Was I this far from the truth that my words were funny?

“- you told me there was a second type of relationship that would work out for you; one where both parties weren’t necessarily benefiting from each other.” I said and began to hope again. Maybe there was a way out of this mess.

“Hmm. There was never a war between the elves and the humans until about five hundred years ago.” She said and switched the topic completely. I couldn’t follow at all, at least until she continued to explain after I frowned. “It was around that time as the humans stole the crown of thorns from the elves, an artefact capable of turning the whole world into a forest only the elves could control. In return, the elven spies in the kingdom stole the precious staff of creation, the only weapon capable of countering the elven artefact. They destroyed their fragile equilibrium where both parties were capable of destroying each other and plunged the continent into a never-ending war. It was a relationship based on mutual destruction and it worked fine, at least for a while.”

This conversation was turning in a way I absolutely didn’t want it to. She was already openly threatening me and I had no way of actually countering it. Even then, I still had to try and make this work out somehow.

“I … I don’t see any way how I was ever going to ruin you.” I admitted and opened my eyes once more. The little girl, capable of destroying everything around her, was standing exactly in front of me.

“That’s because you aren’t thinking ahead. Sure, I have nothing to lose right now, but you can change that, can´t you? Give me something I never want to let go of.” Her point was sensible, almost logical. If such an option existed, I would choose it, but I just couldn’t find it. “Come on Mary, you aren’t that dumb. I can always kill you whenever I want, so you only have to give me something that is usually advantageous for me, but can also be used against me as well. Think!”

She was testing me for some reason I absolutely couldn’t comprehend. I knew way too little about her to actually talk to her on one level, while Lucinda seemed to know everything about me. She even smiled reassuringly, which made the whole situation more bizarre.

“You want to work for me in a high position?” It was the only thing I could come up with. If I died, she would lose all the influence this position had and as such, a relationship of mutual destruction would be made.

“What? No … become my mom!” Lucinda said with a beaming smile as if it was the best thing in the world. I couldn’t imagine anything better either … becoming the mother of a mass murder was certainly a great point on a curriculum vitae.

“That will never work out. For once, nobody will believe us. Arthur … the maids …” Come to think of, there weren’t many people who could disprove that I had a kid around her age. Since I married Arthur, I lived a rather secluded lifestyle after all …

“and how would this work out? If I were to die, you would inherit everything.” I concluded. Yep, this wasn’t going to work.

“At least until everyone realized that I´m not ageing… or when you write letters to a few friends who claim I was a vampire after your death. It´s damn hard to hide these teeth after all once they start looking for it.”

This relationship could indeed work out, but the question was if I could accept it.

“I can´t do that. I have citizens to protect …” I started.

“Since when is the daughter of a duchess reigning over the land?” Well, she was right that I would be the ruler, but the influence she would gain still kept bugging me.

“you would be cruel to the citizens …”

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“You can always throw me out of the family.” Once again, she was right, although I couldn’t predict her reaction to being thrown out of the family at all.

“you would only use the family name to do evil.” I concluded. In reaction, she sighed and rolled her eyes, as if it was my fault I couldn’t trust her at all.

“Look at it this way. You have the perfect opportunity to constrain me to the values of your society. I would only hurt myself if I were to tarnish my own family name, wouldn’t I?” It almost seemed too reasonable, too good to believe. I had this chance of actually saving the world from this monster, or it could backfire immediately. Slowly, I shook my head which made her sweet smile disappear for the first time in this conversation.

“I solved your problem, now help me in return.”

“I cannot do that.” She either lacked any understanding, or she just didn’t care why I couldn’t accept her proposal. Even when I was going to die today, I wouldn’t put my citizens at risk. No matter what.

“Why?” She growled which made Arthur wake up. Both of them glared at me angrily as if there was some kind of connection between them.

“Do you know why?” I had hopes in her friend, at least a little bit and so I turned to him. He was of no help though as he told me exactly what I didn’t want to hear.

“Look, she is really nice to you right now which is incredibly rare for her. For some reason, she wants you as an ally and you would do good to just accept.” Her friend said while Lucinda closed her eyes and calmed her anger as if she wanted to give me one last chance.

“Otherwise?” I asked her friend. He breathed in loudly and waited for any reaction from Lucinda who still stood in front of me, silent and unmoving.

“She will get what she wants, one way or another.”

“And that means?” I had to ask, even when he was incredibly reluctant to tell me anything. He had a conflicted gaze and constantly looked towards Lucinda who completely ignored him.

“… she knows as good as I why you don’t want to accept.” I paled. How did I not realize that they could just shut this door, and then wreak havoc in the city once it was dark? She knew exactly how she could force me into doing whatever she wanted, which was using the life of my citizens against me. She was responsible for so many deaths already, a whole city would barely make any difference.

A conflict broke out within me. One side argued for taking her in as my child, the other side warned me of giving her any more power. Even after several seconds of spending time in silence, I just couldn’t decide.

“Would you actually do that Lucinda?” I asked and feared the worst. Her answer did surprise me though. I was unsure if it was a positive or a negative surprise, but it did blow my mind.

“No … not really. Killing everyone isn’t my thing. In fact, I would probably just kill you and then set Arthur free as he is quite bothersome at the moment. I don’t know how many he can take with him, but I suspect it is all the maids here and a few guards.” I was flabbergasted, unable to reply anything, but I apparently didn’t need to as she continued after a short pause. “The elves though … I doubt they have lost many men, but a few villages were destroyed through my actions, so I am sure they are burning to wreak havoc after the truce I made with them expires within the next year.” 

It took me some time to realize what she just said and to conclude that she had absolutely no reason to lie.

“From the very beginning, I didn’t have a choice in that matter …” I extended my hand towards her as I gave up on any resistance. I had no other option after all. It was either complete destruction, or to rely on the unknown.

“No mum, you didn’t.” She said and the smile returned to her face. Instead of taking my hand though, she stepped forward and pulled me into her embrace. She was cold, so incredibly cold. And for some reason, she didn’t want to let go of me for quite some time. I never resisted her embrace, not because I wasn’t scared of her, but rather because I wanted to try, now that I already decided to accept the devil as my child.

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