Shadow
"When the man you fear most is the one you once called ally."
"Security has been breached!"
The shout rang out from the corridor. Heavy boots thundered closer, metal clanking in alarm.
The man behind Etienne clicked his tongue.
The rope strangling the Minister's throat loosened in a sudden slack. The assailant sprang up the damp wall like a shadow given limbs and vanished into the darkness above.
"Keo—o—o—!"
Etienne collapsed to the floor, dragging in air as if his lungs had been torn open.
Having clawed his way back from the threshold of the underworld, his veins bulged, eyes rimmed in broken vessels.
Relief flickered across his face for a heartbeat—then rage obliterated it.
He slammed both fists against the stone again and again, each impact dull and sickening.
His fever-bright eyes looked as though they might shed blood instead of tears.
"Claudiooooo!"
In the suffocating dark of the solitary cell, his curse echoed back at him, warped and ugly.
The Next Day
By midday, Etienne stared blankly at the rough, dusty bread tossed into his cell, teeth clenched tight enough to ache. He didn't so much as reach for it.
When the guards came with his lunch, they brought words that cut deeper than hunger.
"Her Highness refuses to see you," the Princess’s maid said."She asked me to tell you that being deceived once was enough."
"Ask her again. Just once more. Tell her I know a very filthy secret about Claudio—and that I will never betray her. Do you hear me? Just once! Hurry!"
That evening, the latch on his door scraped open.
The Princess stepped inside.
"Your Highness!"
Etienne lurched to his feet so fast he nearly toppled. With a gauntness he had never known in his life, he greeted Medea like a man who had just seen a lifeboat appear in the middle of a storm.
His bloodshot eyes, ringed in darkness, made it painfully clear he had not slept at all.
"Minister, this is outrageous."
Medea’s gaze swept the cramped, filthy space. She said nothing more, but she didn't need to.
This prison was hell. No comforts. No leniency.
A life like this would snap any worn-out old man.
Animals. Creatures who don't even know what a father is.
Etienne swore silently, nodding over and over, eager to align himself with any hint of sympathy.
"You said something strange about my uncle."
She spoke without preamble, as though reminding him her time was not to be wasted.
"Yes, Your Highness. You must know the sordid truth Duke Claudio is hiding. That is why I, Etienne, risked everything to request an audience—despite my condition."
"The sordid truth? About my uncle?"
Her tone was mild. Her eyes were not.
"Yes, Your Highness. Until now, the Duke's power has been so overwhelming that no one dared speak of it aloud."
"But I am a loyal subject of Valdina, one who has eaten its bread and rust only for Valdina's sake!"
He bowed low, voice cracking as if he were vomiting his own blood.
"I am resolved to reveal the truth!"
Slowly, he raised his head, searching her face for the slightest shift in expression.
"Your Highness, please protect me. If you keep me alive—if you prevent the Duke from finishing what he began—I will tell you what lies beneath the mask of the man you trust."
Medea’s face remained unreadable. Etienne felt panic prickling up his spine.
"If more time passes... it may all be for nothing."
"...Very well. I accept."
Relief brightened his gaunt features.
"Then—if Your Highness could arrange protection for me first—"
Medea turned slightly, as if to walk away.
"You are the one who destroyed trust, Minister. If you cannot trust me now, I will simply leave."
Cold, final. Etienne snapped back to awareness as if plunged into icy water.
"No! No, I understand. After what I’ve done, of course Your Highness wouldn’t trust me right away. Yes, yes, that’s only natural."
He nodded repeatedly, as if trying to align his thoughts with hers.
"Then... I should show my hand first."
He hesitated, still wanting guarantees he no longer had the right to demand.
"You seem to be confused about something, Etienne."
"I decide how this proceeds. Not you."
He swallowed hard.
There was nowhere else to turn. The Princess was the last thread keeping him from the gallows.
After last night’s rope at his throat, time was a luxury he didn’t have.
"Since I assumed control of the Palace Affairs Ministry," he began, voice low,"a great many people have come to me."
"Some wanted positions. Some wanted wealth. I..."
He shut his eyes briefly.
"I admit it. I forgot the gravity of my office and chased my own profit."
"They were all the Duke's men. Through them, the palace's interests flowed straight to the dukedom. It wasn’t one or two individuals—Claudio's influence permeates every corner of the royal palace."
Medea’s lips curled slightly in something that wasn’t quite amusement.
"Is that all? How surprising. As if I haven’t been surrounded by my uncle's people since childhood."
She shifted, as though preparing to leave.
Etienne's panic surged.
"No! Please, just a little more. What I’m about to say now is what truly matters."
In his desperation, he abandoned the last of his caution.
"The greed of the Duke and those around him didn’t end with using Your Highness to gather power and wealth."
His voice shook.
"Those ruthless men dismissed His Majesty the Young King's bravery as arrogance—and in the end, they harbored thoughts they never should have allowed to exist."
"What thoughts?"
"Be precise."
The Princess did not allow him even a syllable of padding.
He glanced around instinctively, as though expecting a rope to slide from the shadows again.
"Treason."
The temperature in the cell seemed to plummet.
"They resolved to overthrow Valdina, raise a rebellion, and depose His Majesty the King."
"And I have the written report of that conspiracy."
Silence took hold again, heavier this time.
Etienne held his breath and bit his lip until he tasted iron.
"And how am I supposed to believe that?"
"Etienne, for all I know you and my uncle are staging this together to draw me in. Even the insects in these walls know you’ve been his closest friend and ally."
"You’re almost certainly mentioned in that report yourself. And now you’d like me to trust you because you voluntarily accuse him before I can accuse you?"
"No! You're mistaken! He is not my friend! The Duke wants to erase me!"
Any pretense of dignity vanished. Etienne dropped to his knees and nearly clung to the hem of the young Princess's dress—this girl he had once openly slighted at banquets.
His servility now was almost grotesque.
"They want to kill me before their existence is exposed!"
"How can I call a man 'close' when he abandons me the instant I’m in danger? I finally understood that in this place."
"We must never leave Claudio—a man with such ungrateful, treasonous ambitions—free to act."
He continued, even now, to weave in self-justification between every accusation.
He did not imagine for a moment that the Duke had no intention of discarding him—and was outside these walls, fighting like a madman to pull him free.
Medea's lips lifted at the corners.
"I can’t accept your word as absolute truth."
"I’ll need to verify it myself. That will take time."
"Then what am I supposed to do until then...?"
"Please, Your Highness, save me. By the time you return, you may only see my corpse."
"Don’t worry. I’ll replace all the guards."
"If we station only men skilled with the sword, no assassin will find it easy to slip in again."
To her, it sounded as simple as rearranging furniture.
Then, with a gentler note:
"You look terrible, Minister. It's almost comical."
"I told Saya to see to your needs so you wouldn’t be too inconvenienced, but it seems that wasn’t enough."
His chin—once heavy with arrogance, now hollowed by fear—trembled.
Her concern felt so warm that tears stung his eyes. He nearly seized the hands of the Princess, this girl the age of his granddaughter, and sobbed into them.
"My life hangs on you, Your Highness. Please—save this wretched body."
"All the more reason to move quickly."
"Tell me, then—"
"where exactly is that report?"
The Duke's Shadow Lengthens ## The Betrayal Deepens
The Minister's final gambit. The Princess's calculated mercy. And the noose—tightens.
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