Chapter 295: What’s Done Is Done

"...And that was just one of many cases."

Alice spoke those words quietly, her gaze lost somewhere on the floor.

"But there were many more," she went on, her voice cracking. "Entire villages razed, families exterminated... For years, that was my job, and I carried it out without hesitating even once, convinced I was doing the right thing."

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"That was the kind of person I was."

Once the story was finished, Alice finally raised her eyes to Mark and Aria.

And what she saw made her tense up immediately.

Both of them were watching her in silence, eyes wide, their expressions impossible for her to fully read. The story had clearly hit them harder than she’d expected.

The silence stretched on for a few seconds that felt endless to Alice.

"...Please, don’t just sit there quiet, say something, anything," she said with a nervousness she rarely let show. "This silence is worse than anything you could accuse me of."

That seemed to snap Mark back to the present.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment," he said, composing himself. "If I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting something like that from you... Not even close."

He looked at her calmly before going on.

"But like I told you before you started telling me all this, I’m not going to judge you for what you did, and my opinion of you hasn’t changed one bit."

"My lord..."

"I mean it, Alice," he continued, holding her gaze. "The person you were back then and the one standing in front of me today aren’t the same."

Aria, who had stayed unusually quiet, spoke up then.

"Besides, you’re not the only one with an ugly past," she said with a small, bitter smile, "Not even close."

Alice looked at her, surprised.

"I used to be like that too, you know?" Aria confessed, a bit uncomfortable. "I was a textbook human supremacist... I idolized everything you and the Inquisition stood for."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah... I firmly believed humans were superior to every other race, that demihumans and semi-humans were little more than vermin, and I cheered every purge like it was some great victory for humanity."

Aria simply shrugged.

"The only difference between you and me is that I never went past words... And while I could look down on demi and semi-humans and enjoy what happened to them from a distance, I never actually did what you did."

"..."

"And no, that doesn’t mean I was a better person," Aria added quickly. "Because if I’d been in your shoes, I probably would’ve been even worse."

Alice stared at her, baffled, trying to process that unexpected honesty.

And for the first time since she’d started talking about her past, she felt the weight on her chest grow a little lighter.

Knowing she wasn’t the only one carrying a past she was ashamed of eased some of the burden on her shoulders.

"...Thank you," Alice said quietly, looking at them both. "Both of you. Really. You have no idea how much it means to me that... that you don’t look at me differently after all this."

"There’s nothing to thank us for," Mark replied with a kind smile.

Alice stayed silent for a moment, then, with some hesitation, added something more.

"Although... I wanted to ask you both a favor," she said, looking away. "If it’s not too much trouble."

"Go ahead."

"I’d rather you didn’t tell Emilia or the others about any of this," Alice asked, her voice dropping slightly. "It’s not that I want to hide it forever, but... Emilia, Zilu, and Cali are demihumans."

She scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed.

"And after what I did to their kind, I don’t even want to imagine how they’d look at me if they found out... So I’d rather avoid that conversation, at least for now."

Mark nodded understandingly.

"Seems fair to me," he said, letting out a sigh. "Just dropping something like that on them would only stir up needless tension between you all. And we’ve got enough on our plate without going around reopening old wounds for no reason."

"I feel the same way," Aria added.

But then she tilted her head, thoughtful.

"Although, now that I think about it, Ely and Rose probably already know about this... Or at least already suspected."

"Why do you say that?" Alice asked, frowning.

"Just think about it for a second, Ely was practically the face of the clergy for years," Aria answered, looking straight at her. "She was up to her neck in that institution, so there’s no way she didn’t know firsthand what the Inquisition was doing."

She held up a finger.

"And as for Rose, she’s watched entire generations come and go, so I seriously doubt there’s anything about cruelty between the races she doesn’t already know... so for someone her age, this probably isn’t news at all."

Alice lowered her gaze, mulling that over. It hadn’t occurred to her, but it made sense.

"Either way, that doesn’t change anything. We’ll respect your decision, whatever it is," Mark cut in gently. "If you want to keep this to yourself forever, we’ll keep it with you... And if you ever decide you’re ready to tell the others, we’ll support you."

Alice looked at him, and a small but genuine smile broke through on her face.

"Thank you, my lord... For everything."

Silence settled over the three of them as they stood there, each lost in their own thoughts.

It wasn’t until they heard footsteps approaching that the stillness came to an end.

The druid was returning after tending to other matters in the village.

"Your Majesty, forgive the interruption," he said with a bow. "But I was wondering what you’d like to do next. Shall we set off now, or would you prefer to stay a while longer?"

Mark glanced up at the sky. The sun had already begun sinking below the horizon, tinting the clouds in shades of orange.

"It’s already getting dark. There’s not much point setting out now just to end up walking the road in the dark," he said, before turning his gaze to the druid. "So it’s probably best we spend the night here and continue on tomorrow."

"A very sensible decision, Your Majesty," the druid replied with a slight smile. "In fact, I already anticipated you’d decide that, so I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a house for you and your companions."

He gestured toward the village with his thumb.

"If you’d be so kind as to follow me, I’ll take you there."

Mark raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised by the initiative.

"Well, how efficient," he said with a smile. "Lead the way, then."

The druid inclined his head slightly and started walking, signaling for them to follow.

Darkness was beginning to settle over the village as Mark, Alice, and Aria rose and set off behind him.