Jester's Folly.

Queen Milize Asina, the ruler of the Kingdom of Lynx. The woman ruled with an iron fist and was known for her ability to catch spies in her councils. Birds or men did not sneak information away from her most time, but one man succeeded and led to her downfall.

First to fall from grace and lose her throne to Asphodels and Britannia's combined attack on her kingdom. Milize defended all she could, trying to siege the army sieging her, and she fought well with an army of less than 3/4 of her enemies. In her last battle to secure Port Trafalgar, she was able to wound Yuuka, but she lost all the same.

Now, she was weak, chained and at the mercy of her captures, but the knowledge and power her name held were there. A name made in years doesn't turn to ash in a fortnight, month or even a year. Kriska knew this, and she wanted her to use it.

"Milize, stand up and sit on the chair. It's me, Kriska. Remember your old friend." Kriska did not go close to Milize to comfort her as advised, and she sat on a table covered with delicious foods like crab, vegetable stew and fish. Drinks included wine and tea with glasses and cups for drinking them. For a prisoner eating nothing but plain rice, it was a feast.

Milize slowly raised herself, and her white prisoner clothes hid her shanked body, whip marks on her arms, and she had lost one toe on her left foot. Kriska observed.

The chains around her crackled as she moved, and those might be enough to slow her down, but she dragged herself to the chair. The chains stretched tight from her neck, and she couldn't move an inch further without choking.

"Your eyes are still beautiful, but your face is another story." Kriska poured her some wine into the glass ahead of Milize. Commenting on her dark as-coal eyes and her face growing a dull glow, puffy eyelids and dark circles, she seemed to have aged by 20 years with those wrinkled and dry skin.

"All are blessings of your husband and his prison guard," Milize said in a sober voice, and she picked up and drank the whole glass of wine in a single gulp after that, some of the wine spilt right over her clothes, staining them violet.

Kriska laughed at the sight. Milize acted quite differently than she was told.

"I thought you were much more incorporative when my father offered you wine and food. Even rejected the idea of a jailbreak to lead to out. Why did you start to kneel to us so suddenly?

"I thought you had manner, Kriska? Always finish your meals before talking about something important. Is there something more casual to talk about? maybe we can talk." Milize gave a sarcastic smile.

Kriksa understood that Milize was trying to copy and mock her demeanour.

"I wish I had times for feasts, Milize. Remember this is the only meeting we share. The rest you will with more inexperienced torture experts. So, I suppose in the best interest of both sides, speak now or then scream later. Why cooperate with us now, not earlier?" Kriska threatened while passing Milize with a bowl of crab and vegetable stew.

"You know already. Don't you, Kriska Ken ?" Milize began eating the vegetable stew ahead of her.

"..."

"What happened, Kriska? Can't you comprehend the idea of not allying with the very two people that I blame my father's death on? Not surprising coming from the girl who married the killer of her lover?" Milize smile grew as she finished the stew and sent the bowl to the table, and Kriska clenched her fists in anger.

"Your hair is still short since you cut it that day. Why? Even after being married for years to your husband, you have a kid now. After all this, you refuse to grow your hair long. Has your lost love gotten you so low that you are betraying your husband?!" Milize laughed aloud. The life that sported inside her was on finding someone more miserable than her.

"What sells you the idea that I am betraying him?" Kriska placed her hand on her chin asking, Milize was now a part of the conversation.

Milize laughed, "If you weren't betraying him, I'd know already. You are mistaken on the information that I talk to nobody here. At least I did not want to until I tried to kill my sister last week..." Milize was soon cut off.

"You?! I was told it was the opposite. Didn't your sister try to attack you?" Kriska was stunned. How much information was flawed? How was the chief guard failing to get correct information?

"Yuuka has successfully pushed Anju to his side. We used to meet him at the castle-" Kriska's eyes were bursting with surprises, and Milize grinned when she saw.

"Some nights, he would take me, Shin and Anju, to the castle for alliance opportunities with him. Shin and I, refused to talk and eat each time. But Anju did eat and even offered him bits of advice sometimes. It was only the last week that he won her over to work for him... and when she came to tell me, I believed I had the will to live again. So, answering your question, it was not a week ago that I saw the eyes of a traitor."

Milize poured a glass of wine for herself and began drinking it sip by sip.

Kriska on the opposite side, grabbed an entire bottle in her hand and drank nearly half of it in one go. Throwing it halfway across the table after a gulp.

"A few months ago, when you lost the war, and Yuuka was injured. My father called me to his office. I learned a secret that made me betray the person I love the most." Kriska wrapped herself in her arms, just like when her mother died.

" I am not working with you or my father because I want power or control, those are worthless to me. All I want is my husband's life and my daughter's happiness. I am afraid!, afraid, of what could happen if I let everything happen the way my father warned me of that day, and I can't even think of bearing that experience." Kriska covered her mouth. Tears running down her face, she reached to grab the bottle again.

"Stop!" Milize grabbed Kriska's arm, and Kriska eyed her with anger while Milize showed a face of pity. Her caring and kind friend was visible to her now.

"Don't drink. If you do Yuuka will get a hint... Tell me what you know, and I'll listen to you. I see a end to your folly, little jester."

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