Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Leanne nodded casually, allowing the man to speak. He didn\'t know what the man wanted, but Leanne didn\'t really take the matter very seriously. His subordinated were probably just pestering him for more whores to be brought to the Island. She was actually very confident in her guess, as Albin seemed hesitant to speak of it in the presence of his daughter.

"I want Amera to be brought away from the Island."

The contents of the request were much different than what she was expecting, so it stunned Leanne for a second. Digging through her mind, she pulled out the case of Albin Faizan and his daughter from inside her memories. She was forced to memorize the details of the Ruler, so the information came pretty easily.

\'Albin Faizan… Captured six years ago by the King\'s Mages, while performing inhumane experiments on the kingdom\'s territory… Caught with his newborn daughter and threatened to blow her body up if the kingdom took her away from him… Was sentenced to take the Oath of Obedience for his crimes, but resisted, and was only branded with the Oath of Loyalty… Was later sent with his daughter to the Island to oversee the Helm\'s Worthy for the various Academies… No further request to take his daughter was made from the kingdom\'s side.\'

"Hmm… What changed your mind? I remember us offering to take her under our care, but you refused quite intensely, insisting that you were going to raise her yourself."

"Well, I was a bit of a stubborn idiot back then," Albin smiled wryly, his imposing demeanor all but gone like it never existed. "Even to this day I can\'t guess why I insisted on bringing my daughter along to serve my life sentence with me… But to be fair, I was just caught by your mages back then, so I suppose it was natural that I couldn\'t believe you\'d treat her fairly."

"And what made you change your mind?"

"Who knows? Reaching my 50s and having nothing to do, I guess. I\'m confident that I\'ll be able to live till my 100s because of my magic, so looking towards my future on this Island… it feels kind of bleak, I guess. I just thought I wouldn\'t want the same thing for my daughter."

Leanne considered her words very carefully.

"A revelatory introspection and a few sentimental words to your observer wouldn\'t really fix all the sins you\'ve committed, now would it? The Kingdom will never forget the lives that it lost under your hands, and will always act cautiously towards you. Same with me - no matter how friendly you act, I will always hold a healthy amount of suspicion in my heart when dealing with you…" Leanne spoke silently, yet clearly. "But… I do agree that Amera has nothing to do with your sins. I will relay your message to the superiors."

"Thank you."

"But I must remind you, she will be subject to a much sterner surveillance compared to what she would\'ve gone through five years ago."

"You mean…" Albin murmured, showing a rare hint of weakness in his voice. Unconsciously, his hand reached towards his mana-core where the Oath resided.

"No. Of course not," Leanne quickly dispelled the man\'s worries before he could misunderstand things. "The Oath is only reserved for the mages who commit serious crimes, so you won\'t have to worry about your daughter taking one because of you. At worst, she\'ll have some nagging inspector following her around for a few years, before they decide that she poses no harm for the kingdom."

"I see…" Albin let out a relieved sigh. "That\'s fine as well."

"Ah, one more thing," Leanne added. "Since there haven\'t been any cases like yours before, I can\'t be sure on how they would handle family visits."

Leanne\'s mind immediately began working on the problem at hand. She was acting slightly out of line, but the kingdom gave her a certain amount of freedom regarding the Island, so it was probably alright. She would just need to write a flattering report to the supervisor from Arcvallen and the problem should be solved. But as she was thinking about how to write her report to the higher ups, Albin burst out laughing.

"What?"

"No-no, I just didn\'t think you\'d take this so seriously… to even think of how my daughter and I would visit each other… I feel a bit bad seeing you act so diligently."

"What do you mean you feel bad?" Leanne asked, feeling a bit pissed.

\'You\'re the one who brought out the topic, so why aren\'t you taking it seriously? Isn\'t this concerning the future of your daughter?\'

"I guess to say that I\'m feeling bad is wrong. Maybe \'flattered\' is a better word. I\'m flattered that you\'re taking this so seriously," Albin said smilingly. "Honestly, I expected this conversation to be much more difficult than it is. After all, I am an international criminal infamous for his ruthlessness and disrespect of life… I wouldn\'t be surprised if you decided to ignore my plea completely."

"Stop saying those things with such a bragging tone. This is also one of the reasons why I want Amera to grow apart from you," Leanne said half-seriously, but her mind was caught on Albin\'s words.

\'But he does have a point… Why am I taking this matter so seriously? The me from a year ago would just chalk up a perfunctory report for my superior and be done with the whole matter… But lately during this test, I\'m actually doing my best to help his case and I\'m even being careful to not act like a bitch like the previous times... Am I finally growing as a person?\'

It was a nice thought to have, but lately, Leanne\'s mind was much prone to negative conclusions than positive ones.

\'I\'m probably doing all this because of fear. I\'m trying to act politely to him because I\'m afraid he\'ll kill me someday if I don\'t act nice with him. I must leave a good impression in his mind, so if he ever breaks out of the chains of the Oath, he wouldn\'t hold it against me as much. It\'s an irrational thought, but my body and brain are unconsciously working under such an illogical assumption…\'

Leanne fell deeper into thought and wondered what happened to her to warrant such drastic changes. It wasn\'t hard to find the main reason.

\'Evin…\'

Ever since the thought that Leanne could be killed by Evin appeared in her mind, she became awfully conscious of the way she interacted with him. She picked her words carefully, she actively listened to what he was saying, instead of just waiting for her turn to speak her mind out, and she worked desperately hard to maintain the façade of an amiable person.

She could say the same for how she started to interact with many other people as well.

"You\'ve changed a lot," Albin commented as Leanne was caught in thought.

Leanne realized that she had fallen in deep thought in Albin\'s presence and immediately felt embarrassed. It was a bad habit of hers, one that she still hadn\'t fixed, despite all the new year\'s eves she resolved herself to do it.

"I\'m sorry, I was just caught in thought… It\'s a bad habit of mine," she said, and got up from her seat. "I hope you enjoy your time with Amera."

"Is it so bad to change as a person?" Albin pressed on.

"Excuse me?" Leanne asked, just as she stood up.

"I asked is it so bad to change as a person?" Albin repeated.

"Depends on the change… I guess. A kind and understanding person turning into a spiteful and harming one would probably be considered bad."

Albin smiled at the example, but shook his head.

"But I think that even negative changes have good effects," he said, and noticing that Leanne wasn\'t following, continued. "Think of it like this, if you don\'t experience the worst that life can offer, how can you know when you\'re happy? If you don\'t feel doubt, anxiety, and confusion, how can you know when you\'re free of them? And as wrong as it may sound, if you never do illegal things and get punished for it, how can you learn the mistakes of your ways?"

"So you\'re saying that one has to become a criminal, live through the worst things that life can throw at you, and only then you can grow as a person?"

"Ha-ha-ha, it definitely sounds interesting now that I think about it… but no. I\'m just saying that negative changes aren\'t always bad things. It offers someone a chance to change and grow."

"Too bad there are people who never learn from their mistakes, huh?" Leanne shrugged, saying the words in a more spiteful tone than she intended. She didn\'t know why.

Albin didn\'t seem to mind it, and just said. "But you\'re not one of them, right? You\'re smart enough to look at yourself objectively and think about your own flaws and mistakes. Do you think I\'d say these things to my subordinates? Most of their heads are filled with delusions of escaping and the women that come to the Island every two months."

It felt weird to be lectured like this by a criminal infamous for his disregard for human life, but Leanne couldn\'t really find faults in his words. Remembering that even a broken clock was at least right twice a day, she decided that she shouldn\'t shun the advice.

"I\'ll keep it in mind."

"Ha-ha, I\'m kind of surprised that my request turned into a random heart-to-heart between us, but I can\'t say I didn\'t enjoy it."

Leanne was also surprised by the development, but decided that it was best to not focus on these things so heavily.

"Why did you ask about Amera on the first day of the test, anyway? And wouldn\'t it be better to ask the representative from Arcvallen?"

"Depending on your answer, I needed to decide whether to talk with Amera. As for the old lady from Arcvallen… well, even without asking, I kinda know she\'ll refuse."

"Alright," Leanne sighed, resolving to properly write the damn report. "I\'ll meet you in forty minutes in the control room, then."

"Bye," Albin smiled.

Leanne seemed to catch something akin to sadness and guilt in his eyes, but didn\'t really think much of it.

\'He\'s probably thinking about how he\'ll explain things to his daughter,\' she thought as she walked out of the room.

…