Injustice

Rafael fell to his knees and bowed his head down.

The King coughed a couple times. Lionel rushed to his side and tried to help him, but the King swatted his hand away.

Lionel reeled back in shock but quickly schooled his features.

A skinny, gaunt man walked up to the left of throne. His face was still, but his features were warped in a way. His eyes were sunken into their sockets and wrinkles etched his face. Unlike the King, these wrinkles didn't make him appear mature.

In fact, he looked like a gender-swapped version of the witch from Snow White. And it was absolutely gross yet terrifying.

I bet 100 dollars this guy was a bad guy. In video games, there was one simple rule: the villain is always ugly.

And judging by the evil smirk on his face, I knew it was fact.

The man made an exaggerated bow and said in a lofty voice, "I am the prosecutor of these fair lands, Percival. I am humbled to be in his Majesty's presence."

Ugh, what a suck up.

He shifted slightly and opened up a scroll and said, "The servant 'Rafael' is being put on emergency trial on charges of attempted murder of the King and espionage."

I'd expected Rafael to argue. But instead he just hung his head in shame. Why wasn't he saying anything?!

Percival raised his hand and pointed to Rafael, "What do you plead?"

Rafael looked down at the floor, "Guilty."

WHAT?!

I looked at him shocked. He made eye contact with me for a second and then looked away.

The King said coldly, "At least you have the basic decency not to drag this out."

Percival smirked. God, I wanted to punch that smirk right off his face. Unfortunately, if the previous day was any indicator, my punch wouldn't hurt a fly.

I needed to do something! I couldn't let him just get falsely accused like this!

(So what if he got falsely convicted?)

What was that?

(Even if he got executed, it has nothing to do with you. You'd be safe, even revered as a hero for stopping him!)

I-I...

(Just let it be.)

Was that really the best option? After all, technically he had nothing to do with me. If I left him alone, I could manage to fly under the radar without any issues.

But...

While those two parts of me were warring, I saw Percival and the guards drag Rafael out of the room. Crap! Once again, my thoughts took up too much time!

The King huffed and coughed. Lionel was busy trying to calm him. If I moved quickly enough, I would be able to catch up to them.

I ran behind Percival. He turned toward me with an annoyed expression and said, "WHAT?!"

Shoot, looked like I was caught. Not that I was trying to be particularly sneaky... What would someone like Percival expect to hear?

Characters like him were totally one-dimensional and easy to understand, so I went with the most obvious answer.

I stood up straight and put on my most haughty voice, "You dare to take that tone with me? I am the King's personal tactician. I must ensure you do your jobs."

Percival's expression instantly changed. "Oh, please forgive me! I assure you that I mean't no disservice."

Perfect. I followed Percival as we walked down the dungeon stairs. Urk. This smell gave me bad memories...

Finally, Percival shoved Rafael in a cell and locked the door. He turned to leave, so I stuck my hand out to Percival.

"Hand over the keys," I demanded.

Percival looked confused, "Why would you require these?"

Good question. There's no logical reason a tactician would require that.

I did my best to make a menacing glare, "Are you denying an order from the King's tactician himself?"

Percival became scared, "O-Of course not! You may have them," he said and handed them over. He quickly scuttled away from the place. Apparently my glare must've been stronger than expected.

The guards still stayed, which was inconvenient. I yelled at them, "Leave, I must interrogate him alone!"

The guards looked at each other and then wordlessly left.

I looked at Rafael's shocked face inside the cell. I smirked and said, "Guess the roles are reversed now, huh?"