Prelude

The Beginning After the End

The painful sounds echoed inside the interrogation room as the lashing continued. She whimpered in pain as she was holding her cries. Never did she cried during the whole interrogation today and even for the past few weeks.

"Who gave you the mission of the assassination of the King!?" The lashing was even more painful as the whip touches her already bleeding wounds. She gritted her teeth, her orbs were already sans of emotions.

The iron door creaked and it swung open revealing the crown prince of Verdetta. The man with the whip on his hand stopped midways and bowed down to show respect to the crown prince.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" he addressed while his head held low, his voice shivering a bit.

The crown prince nodded in acknowledgement and gestured an order along with his firm and hostile voice.

"You may leave the room, Esteban."

"But, Your Royal Highness..." Esteban hesitatingly croaked. He glanced sideways to the weak woman under the vigorous stare of the crown prince. It will be dangerous to leave the two of them alone.

"I want to talk to her," the crown prince demanded in a firm voice.

Esteban bowed his head low and stepped back, adherent to the orders of the royal family members, most specially to the future ruler of Verdetta, Alexander Eldrion Ephtalia Rovett.

Before Esteban left, the crown prince ordered him to bring the woman down. The chains on her hands and feet dangled loosely after she laid comfortably on the ground. It is not the usual comfort every women wants but definitely the comfort she would ask for at this very moment. She started moving, lifting herself, the sound of the chains rang in his ears as he stared down at her. Her body trembled, enfeebled for being hanged for too long. She was taken out from her cell only to be interrogated once again and whipped when she doesn't speak.

She started coughing incessantly, holding on the ground to support her trembling body and looked at him.

"You looked like a mess, Viktorina..." He lowly stated. His tongue grazed the edge of his teeth at the mention of her name, it sent shivers down to her spine and as well as pain. She lifted her weak and trembling hand to wipe the excess blood at the sides of her lips and forced a mocking smile at him.

"Are you here to substitute Esteban from whipping me, Eldrion?"

Eldrion let out a humorless laugh and shook his head disappointedly. He crouched down to reach her level and lifted her chin with his slender fingers, his rough digits caressing the skin of her chin.

"There's no way I would do that, Viktorina. After all, you are still my wife." The statement would seemed like a pejorative in her ears. It's like telling her that her only advantage in the situation right now was her being his wife.

"Are you not afraid? You let yourself in here alone with me, ordered your guards to leave and even removed my shackles."

He stared at her without any respond to what she said. She blurted into a forged guffaw. After holding her emotions for too long, now that the crown prince appeared in front of her after God knows how many days, her eyes were streaming with painful tears.

She could not look into his dark eyes. It was void with any emotions just the way it has always been, however, it has always been as sharp as knife--he was ripping her open, through his stares and towards her inner thoughts. He was reading her and it was like the opening of the wound she had stitched over and over again.

She shoved his hand away and tried to fixed her position despite the stinging pain she felt. She sat, her scraped legs grazing the rough surface of the floor but it was covered with the long cloth of her dress. She tried to laugh everything off as she was wiping her wet cheeks evidently, just wanting him to think that she was out of her mind already.

"You are inside a room with a murderer, Eldrion. I could kill you right here, right now. Aren't you a bit frightened?"

"And, what of it, Viktorina? You should look at yourself. You are unable to do that," he replied, his tone dripping with acid. It was cold yet it was ripping her skin and insides open, dripping into her bones and heart that might dissolved it.

She shook her head, unable to grasp for a respond to what he had said. How could he be so confident with her inside the same four-cornered room? He might be that confident of his skills in subduing her, he knows she cannot give him a scratch.

"I am sorry..." Her voice trembled under her chest. "We could've had a happy ending if..." Viktorina sighed. "I... I am going to confess now." Eldrion fell silent, his eyes watching her struggle on her frail feet. That was a cue for Viktorina to continue. "I deserved to be punished... I planned to assassinate the King. I wanted to use you to my own accord. This is all because of my greediness of title."

"Is that so?" he scoffed, not believing bits of what she had confessed. Never did she said a word to the royal guards during the time they had interrogated her but it seemed like she would have a hard time making him believe to what she had said now that she directly confessed.

"Yes, Your Royal Highness. I am sorry. I used you. I once had the thought of forgetting my main objective. I once thought of settling as your wife but I cannot give it up. I still wanted to become more powerful than I am now."

"If you want the higher title, you should've just told me about it, Viktorina."

Viktorina gritted her teeth. She avoided his gaze. "Please, enough of it, Eldrion. I am inside a cell now. I already gave up the moment I was caught. I am repenting from my grave sins. Do not ruin it for me."

He sighed and nodded, giving up further implications. "Alright, then."

She knew it would not be of help now and that she knew, Eldrion honor his responsibility as the future ruler of Verdetta. She wasn't worthy, even a bit, of any of those.

"I will tell Father to stop the interrogation and we will schedule a meeting to Persia. Your fate will also be decided, Viktorina. That is all. I will take my leave."

He stood up and tap his dusty pants with his palms. He put a hand behind, standing proudly in front of her who was sitting pitifully on the dusty rough ground, with shackles in her wrists and feet and wounds that has not yet healed after the last week of beating.

He started walking away. The sound of the heels of his shoes were rhythmic to the beating of her heart, like a beautiful music orchestrated by him before closing. It was gradually decreasing cadence as he was already on the doorway, talking to one of the royal guards.

Viktorina sighed wearily. She dropped on the floor, her hands flapped tiredly on the ground. She cannot helped it but to smile after all the beating and endless queries. At last, she would be able to say her death would be useful for everyone. In order to avoid conflict among two countries, she had to lie.

Everything was slowly drifting away. She felt tired after all those forced bravery but the smile remained on her lips. Her Father might think of another way again but she was certain her brothers will not easily follow his order to his own accord. This is, after all, still a better ending.

A lone tear escaped her left eye as she slowly closed her eyes. The last view in her memory before she drifted into unconsciousness was the back of the man she loved, as he was ending his talk and started walking away from the underground interrogation room.

In a weakened voice, she whispered her last words before she fell into a deep abyss.

"So long, Eldrion..."