Lost
Marc sat in his new private quarters in the palace. He was sitting on his bed while resting his head into his hands. Where had this all gone wrong?
It's not possible that a child ten years of age gave an order to massacre his family.
Marc was lost in his mind. He had been planning to assassinate the Emperor for the atrocious crimes he's committed against his family, but the Emperor was just a boy.
He remembered the words his date gave, to watch out for the Emperor's advisors.
If the young Emperor trusted them, then they could very easily do whatever they wanted with the Empire, and the burden would not be on their shoulders.
'How deep can corruption go?'
Marc was supposed to meet with his old lieutenant today to discuss some planning, and he only had 30 minutes left. So he got up and left the keep to meet up with the lieutenant.
The lieutenant was at a bar not too far away, and when Marc went up to the door, a man led him to the far back. There was a private room that is used for parties or private events, so they decided to use that.
Marc entered, and there were several other men aside from the lieutenant in that room. Marc nodded to each of them when the man sitting at the head of the table greeted him, "welcome Marc. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am General Leo, the one in charge of the upcoming coup."
Marc raised his eyebrows, 'so this was the man in charge of the plans to assassinate the Emperor?'
He decided to speak his mind, "nobody told me that the Emperor was just a boy. How come more people don't know about it?"
His old lieutenant answered him, "the Emperor's advisors like to be in charge, but if the outside world thinks the Emperor is an older, wiser person making the decisions, all the blame can be off their backs. Sadly we need to kill the young Emperor. We plan on killing the advisors as well, so they can't sow dissent after the coup."
The General nodded in agreement, "tomorrow, we make our move against the Emperor and his advisors. They all need to die for this coup to be successful." He looked at Marc, "that's why you are so important. You will be the one assassinating the Emperor and killing his advisors. We will do our best to distract most of the guards, but they are all elite soldiers with version three exosuits. You will take the brunt of the responsibility I'm afraid."
Marc nodded and agreed, "I left my personal exosuit onboard the ship, will you be able to get that to me inside the keep?"
The old lieutenant raised an eyebrow, "you've had a personal exosuit this whole time? What version is it? Why haven't we been told about it?"
Marc sighed, "I didn't trust you, so I kept it hidden. It is a prototype that the Trostan Kingdom made, and it's better than the Empire's version three exosuits. I happened to find it, so I plan to use it to give me an edge against the guards."
The General looked suspicious but agreed, "we can get your suit to your room. All you need to do is find the Emperor and kill him and his advisors when the time comes. The signal will be a green flare towards midnight tomorrow night. So get some rest, because we have a nation to run after tomorrow."
The men all ended the meeting and left several minutes apart from each other. Marc stayed at the bar for a while to contemplate what they were doing. He ordered a drink from the bar.
Marc spun the liquid around the glass while looking at his obscure reflection in the drink. What would he do after he killed the Emperor and his advisors?
He wanted to find Inian, but he hasn't seen him since he left him in the Trostan Kingdom.
Marc sighed, Inian could be dead for all he knew.
He got up after his drink and went back to his room. He rested for a few hours before his next post. This time, the post was with the Emperor himself. Marc wore his exosuit and went to the room the Emperor spent most of his time.
The young Emperor had just woken up and was still in his nightclothes. He yawned then smiled as Marc came into the room. "Hey, Marc! Are you with me today? I had a whole schedule planned with Miriam, but I would love to play with you too! First, I have a game of tag set up in the gardens. Then we are going to practice sword fighting. After that, I need you to listen to me play the piano because my teacher wants me to practice in front of others." The Emperor pouted, "I don't like to play the piano, but the advisors tell me that it is good for a young Emperor to have many talents."
Marc smiled at the young boy, "I will be with you all day, so go get dressed your majesty."
The Emperor smiled and dashed off to get ready for the day.
Marc's smile faded as he looked at the retreating boy, wondering what he would think if he knew that today was his last day.