The first day in the cell was easily the worst. Leo would come down with ice-cold cold water and continuously splash everyone with it, making them shiver and curl up. They were hardy fed, given water, or a had a proper place to sleep. Their energy was being sapped every single waking second. not only this, but the memories of what occurred yesterday were still fresh in all their minds.

Nobody spoke to one another. Maybe, they just didn’t have the energy to. However, Jacob assumed it was because they didn’t have anything to talk about except for what just happened. Not only that, but even if they did have something to talk about, there was always a guard or Leo himself watching over them constantly.

What was most maddening about the situation was the darkness. Jacob had never been afraid of the dark, but there were a few times when the person keeping watching would purposely put out any light source to mess with them. During those moments, all he could hear were his own heartbeat and ragged exhales of his friends next to him. It angered him to no end.

He stared at the wall and cursed his existence, cursed his weakness, and cursed his stupidity for ever trusting in his uncle. However, he knew he couldn’t blame himself too harshly for what happened, simply because there were too many unknowns in the whole situation. There was no way to know who was telling the truth, a half-truth, or a lie.

Eventually, Jacob couldn’t take the silence anymore and forced words out of his mouth, even with the guard present. He needed to hear Maria’s voice to know she was still alive in her cell.

"...Maria?"

There was no response for three moments. A small sadness pierced Jacob’s heart.

"I’m here, Jacob."

Relief washed over him. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"I’m sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"This is all my fault. Everything that happened is my fault. These deaths are all on my hands."

Jacob covered his face with his hands.

"It’s okay. I was fooled too. We are both responsible for this."

"That’s not true. You just trusted my intuition. I saw how on guard you were when Monty approached us, even with his nice demeanor. I was the foolish one for ever trusting a word out of my uncle’s mouth."

A small silence followed his comment. Maria hesitantly asked Jacob a question that all of them were secretly thinking, no matter how hard they wanted to deny it.

"Do you think... we did the right thing? Do you think we were on the right side of this? I know we were tricked, but even so..."

Jacob thought to himself for a while before responding.

"I’m unsure. All I am sure about is it’s undeniable that my father lied to everyone’s face, including his own son, for years. Not only that, but he ruled the throne like a tyrant and put the strength of the kingdom before everyone’s lives. It’s hard to say we made a wrong decision. But at the same time..."

"It was the right decision."

Lidias voice rang through the dungeon. She made her opinion on the matter very clear.

"The way I see it, that bastard finally got what was coming for him after killing my family. Not only that, because he failed to finish off his brother, my closest friends were murdered."

Both Jacob and Maria remained silent for a moment.

"But mom, why did he save the civilians of the kingdom?"

"Save? You call this saving? Who knows what’s happening to them as we speak! For all we know, they could be getting mass-slaughtered in the streets! Not only that, but the only thing we can stare at all day is this ugly bastard’s face. I’m already sick and tired of it."

The guard finally interrupted them.

"Hey! Watch your tongue or I’ll have King Leo bring more cold water to splash you all again!"

"If I had balls, I would tell you to suck my nuts. But since I don’t, just take your fancy threats and shove them right up your ass."

"What the hell did you just say, woman?"

"You heard me. Now stop interrupting. It’s not like we can do anything else anyway."

"I hope you’re happy. You just lost everyone food privileges for another day."

"How about I tear these bars apart and eat you instead, fat ass?! I bet you could feed a family of twenty!!!"

"Do you want to make it a week without food?! Don’t test me!!"

"Oh please, like you have any food left to give us after you get to it first. Save your energy everyone, officer tubby is going to be on duty a looooong time."

"I’m getting the king! You will all be punished for these insults!"

The large man stood up from his chair, opened the cell door and called out to the king.

"Yeah yeah, go get your lover for us since you can’t punish us yourself."

"I’ll make sure he starts with you, woman. And for your information, I’m happily married."

"Geez. I’m so sorry to hear that."

King Leo walked in with a long trail of water behind him.

"What is it now? It’s hardly been a day."

"They suddenly found their voice and have been speaking out. They need to be punished."

Lidia stood against the bars and poked her face partly through them.

"That’s right, get your splishy splashy’s out water boy. Are you getting us some soap to go with our shower this time?"

"Oh. That one has quite the mouth. We can shut them up for a bit."

Leo sent the water forward and covered their heads with it, taking away their ability to breathe. Lidia immediately closed her mouth but was still looking at the king with a cold expression through the water.

Leo slowly started laughing after coming to a sudden realization.

"I know exactly what she’s trying to do! She’s trying to get me to kill her! This is absolutely fascinating! I’ve completely broken her!"

He continued laughing while the water stayed over their heads. He slowly walked over towards Lidia’s cell and looked her in the eyes.

"Oh... if only it could be that simple for you. You’re going to rot here, nice and slow. I’ll make sure of it."

Lidia and Jacob were slowly running out of air. It didn’t take long for Lidia to finally collapse to the ground from the lack of oxygen. Jacob’s strengthened blood flow allowed him to hold his breath a bit longer, so by the time Leo dropped his water, he was still conscious. Maria still had the Azure Blessing, but she still pretended to pass out.

On his way out of the room, he put a hand on the guard’s shoulder.

"Thank you for calling me, this was actually fun to do. Continue keeping an eye on them."

Jacob couldn’t explain it, but after Leo left and the room went quiet, he felt something stir deep within himself. It felt like a power that was locked behind certain barriers had finally freed itself. However, with this feeling came an emotion he seemed to experience often these days: wrath.

He was so incredibly mad at his uncle for everything he made his friends go through, he wanted to make him pay. He was going to avenge his fallen friends, he was going to get back at his uncle, and then he was going to find that general and give him a piece of his mind.

’I’ll create a world of peace. Even if I have to carve a path of blood to get there.’

As if responding to his emotions, the small root coming out of the dirt slightly tingled.