Chapter 11:

Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place. - Thomas Brooks.

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Current Year: 1259

"You'll like this one, your majesty. How about we call you 'Duny'!" I said with the tone of a serpent, who knew, he had found his prey.

I watched as Emhyr's face contorted from a scowl into a more shocked expression. He probably wanted to pinch himself to check if he was dreaming or not. Afterall, no one in this world besides Vilgefortz even knows that Emhyr used to be 'Duny' yet. I bet if Geralt saw him he'd recognize him, but he wouldn't realize that the whole 'Duny' alias was just a front.

"How? How do you know that name? Did Vilgefortz tell you? Is he planning something with you? Tell me, now." Emhyr said impatiently. He was clearly a bit nervous.

I just smiled at his attempts at a threat. It was cute, unfortunately I am the one in control here. I completely disregarded Emhyr's questions and just stared at him for a moment before speaking again.

"Tell me, 'Duny'," I said in a mocking tone while drawing emphasis to the name. "How did it feel? To kill your own wife? Did you enjoy it?"

Emhyr's jaw continued to widen at these remarks. Strange, I didn't think Emhyr was capable of showing this many different expressions on his face. There is absolutely no one who should know this information besides Vilgefortz.

"If you know this much," Emhyr said trepidly. "Then you know how I felt. I was distraught."

I just laughed at that. A giant boisterous laugh. I was hysterical. I couldn't help myself, this disgusting piece of human filth has the gall to say that he was 'distraught' after killing his wife. Absolute dog shit. It's unfortunate that I know the whole truth, otherwise I might have actually believed him when he said he was sorry.

"Sorry, 'Duny'. I guess I do know too much, probably more than you yourself do." I said while continuing my chuckle. "It's a shame you were trying to deceive me with that last remark, 'Duny'. I know how you really felt. You might have felt bad that you had killed her, pushing her body overboard your ship and allowing her to drown in the cold depths. You can admit it to me though 'Duny', you never even really loved her."

Emhyr seemingly had enough of my impudence. He was now furious, I had been blatantly disrespectful towards him, an emperor, the entire time I was here.

"Guards!" Emhyr shouted out with a fury as he got up from his chair.

I heard armor footsteps running down the halls and about to break through the door. Sorry Emhyr, but things will not be going your way.

"I would advise you to hold your tongue and rethink your current course. If you think I wouldn't come here without contingencies, then you are a fool." I said while seething. Emhyr is clearly not as wise as he would be in the future. He just lost his temper to a ten year old. A ten year old that had very critically revealing information, but a ten year old nonetheless.

The guards broke through the door shouting all the while.

"Yes my liege! Is everything all right?!" The guard captain said, eager to prove himself to his emperor.

"Yes it is. I apologize." Emhyr said reluctantly. "Leave us. Now"

The guard captain was confused by this strange chain of events. He looked between Emhyr and I several times before relenting. He bowed and then closed the door, but not before giving me a glare.

Emhyr sat back down in his chair and then called himself. I'll admit, this was quite fun. Seeing Emhyr himself get so worked up was enjoyable.

"What 'Contingencies' do you speak of?" Emhyr asked, this time much calmer.

This is good, the conversation is flowing my way perfectly. Now I can threaten Emhyr and make demands at the same time. He is already in an emotional state despite the calm facade on his face. I can tell he is anxious.

"Well, Emhyr. Since you asked so nicely this time, I'll tell you." I said with a smile. "We know you're planning to attack us. That much was obvious from this plan's inception. Having Svend in our midst probably jogged your memory on the extracurricular activities that my school partakes in besides fighting monsters. You know that we assassinate humans for the right price. You were probably thinking along the lines of 'how long is it before someone hires the vipers to kill me instead?'"

Emhyr just nodded at my words, he's probably wondering how I figured out that he was going to attack us before I even stepped foot in this palace. Future knowledge is a bitch.

"Here's the situation, Emhyr. We already know that you're coming and we also already know who 'Duny' is. If I do not return, my school will know that I have been taken captive. If this event comes to pass, two things will happen. One, you will be assassinated. You may be able to lay siege to our keep and destroy us all in one foul swoop, but if all of the witchers inside are already gone, then you'll never win. We, of the School of the Viper, are the best assassins in the known world. There is nowhere you will be able to run or hide from us where we won't find you and put you down like the piece of human scum you are. Secondly, as a bonus, we will release the fact that you are 'Duny' to the world. I imagine Calanthe, the lioness of Cintra and her many allies, will have something to say about that." I spoke clearly and with confidence. Absolute certainty in my tone.

Emhyr looked pissed. I was one step ahead of him the entire time I was here. He wasn't able to predict the knowledge I had at my disposal.

"What do you want." Emhyr asked, seemingly coming to terms with the situation he's in.

"A few things. One, we will not join your army, but that doesn't mean we can't work together. I want you to hire us for assassinations that you might want handled. We can have a very profitable business relationship with each other. Secondly, you will never, ever, try and think about attacking a witcher school for any purpose whatsoever again. If you do, they will find your body in pieces, scattered around this palace with your head resting comfortably on the throne. Thirdly, I want you to tell me who is the spy you have within my school. These terms are non negotiable. What do you say?" I said while making sure to scowl once I left my looming threat of dismemberment.

Emhyr looked down for a moment. He truly was in a terrible position here. There were too many unknown factors. If I was telling the truth and my school already knew who he was, then keeping me captive will not work out in his favor no matter what he does. Emhyr raised his head again solemnly.

"I understand, I agree to your terms." Emhyr said while trying to hold back from seething.

My smile turned devilish once more. It truly is wonderful when things like this work out in my favor. I have managed to not only save my school, but also secure it's prosperity. Emhyr and the vipers will be working very closely together from now on. I have also managed to leverage my information so well that Emhyr has no choice but to keep me alive. He doesn't know who else I told about the fact that he's 'Duny'. If he doesn't manage to kill everyone and the information gets out, Calanthe will probably make an alliance with Skellige and several of the other northern realms in order to defeat Emhyr. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It has become Emhyr's best interest to keep me and my school alive. Truly a wonderful situation to be had, no?

"Fantastic!" I spoke with a chipper attitude. "Now, tell me. Who is the spy you have implanted in my school?"

Emhyr looked resigned in his chair. He let out quite a large sigh and then spoke.

"The spy I implanted in the witchers is one that was left over from the usurpers' reign. He's been inside your school since the throne was stolen away. I only recently came into contact with him. His name is-"

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A Few Moments Later:

Current Year: 1259

I was currently waiting outside Fringillas temporary room within the palace. I needed her to take me back home, but she was busy or something. I was getting impatient just waiting outside the door, I had been waiting here for several minutes. I knocked on the door loudly again.

"Fringilla! What's taking so long. I have to go home, I still need to go to the mountains, remember?" I said a bit loudly.

There was no response. I was done, I'm opening this goddamn door. I need to get home as soon as possible. The school is not entirely safe yet. I forcefully opened the door to see what laid within.

What greeted my eyes was Fringilla sitting in some sort of hot onsen eating fruit. She was relaxing this whole time while I had to talk to fucking Emhyr! Bullshit!

"Ah Harkon! Please, join me. The waters here are extremely pleasant." Fringilla said sensually with a smirk.

I just sighed and rubbed my eyes at that. I literally do not have time for this. I need to get back home Kaer Lorna now!

"Fringilla, as much I love seeing you like this, I need to get home now." I spoke with a bit of annoyance.

"Oh, please Harkon. Witchers need to learn how to relax too. I seem to remember we shared a similar bath one time with no problems!" Fringilla said and my face blushed.

God that was so embarrassing. Not being in control of my own body sucks.

"Fringilla, if you keep inviting little boys to bathe in the nude with you, people are gonna start getting the wrong idea. I'm not interested, I just need you to open up a portal so I can go home." I said with a bit of reluctance. I actually did want to stay here with her, but I have some extremely important things to do.

Fringilla smirked at my antics. She knew I liked her and sorceresses do love to tease.

"Not interested in me are you? Strange, I seem to remember you saying 'I love you Fringilla' multiple times the other day." Fringilla said in a teasing tone.

God, that made me cringe, but luckily I have a pre loaded response that was waiting for this situation.

"Hmm, I seem to remember that as well. Oh! You know what else I remember? I seem to remember you saying 'I Love You' back to me. Care to explain that?" I said in a rather sarcastic tone.

Fringilla blushed at that and moved deeper into the waters.

"Listen as much as I would really love to do cute and lovely things with you, and by god do I mean I would love to. I am still too young and, in more pressing concerns, we need to leave now. Something has come up."

"Huh. You're no fun. Fine, let's go." Fringilla said in a huff, but I could tell she was happy from the compliments I had given her.

Fringilla got out of the onsen and magically dressed herself with a wave of her hand. Then she came over to me and opened up a portal on the wall beside us. When she opened the portal again I got the same feeling. It just felt incredibly 'ugly' to me.

Thoughts for later I suppose. We walked through the portal and then we were back in the courtyard at Kaer Lorna. Ivar was there waiting for us.

He came over and clasped me in a hug, saying how he was glad that I was alive. He asked me what happened and I told him the full story. I told him how I had threatened Emhyr and come out on top. I also told him of the myriad of other benefits I managed to extort from the emperor. Ivar was pleased with my efforts and called me his "Little Schemer" which was fine. We made a note to celebrate once we get back from the mountain trip.

I still had one more thing I needed to do though. I immediately made my way into the keep. I slowly walked by a couple hallways and up a set of stairs. After a few minutes I had reached my destination. The alchemy laboratory.

I walked inside the lab to see Torsten working on some potions.

"Hey Harkon! You're back! Do you need something?" Torsten asked with a chipper tone of voice.

"Actually, Torsten, I do need help with something. Would you mind having a little chat?" I said ominously as I closed the door and locked it behind me.

I let out my signature devils smirk and then stared at Torsten. This is seriously turning out to be a long day.