Project Powel.

When the session was over and the council members began to disperse one by one, the emperor called prime minister over and began to discuss something, but Alan along with Lee proceeded to the exit at the opposite side of the hall.

The moment Lee passed the spot minister Powel usually sat at, he nimbly squatted and pretended to pick up something under Powel's chair. It turned out to be slightly dirty, palm-sized paper sheet, scrolled in a tube and Lee, doing his best to appear excited, tried to straighten it in order to read.

"What is it?" As expected, Alan immediately took the paper from him.

"I found it, it's mine!" Lee pleaded as a child would do.

"No, it's not!" Alan shook his head. He glanced at the paper and already intended to call for Powel, but didn't get further than Pow…

"What is it? What is it?" It was Lee's turn to ask the question.

"Trouble …" Alan sighed, and with wide steps approached the emperor who immediately took the piece of paper and discovered another one that was stuck to the first. Then he read that, and Lee sensed the blood demon from the mountaintop returning. Majesty's first instinct was to grab his sword handle, but one could see he forced himself to calm down and take a deep breath.

Then he passed the forged letters to Bates to read and said, forcefully lowering his voice, "Get everyone back!"

A short while later, when ministers and their heirs sat back in their chairs, the confusion was evident. But there was a hint of worry on quite a few faces – apparently many had skeletons in their closets, and people were scared their secrets have been discovered. Lee was excited though, everything was going according to the plan.

"Minister of justice, approach the throne!" Emperor couldn't have been more formal, calling Claire Ironfist over.

Her tall stature slowly walked by, and Lee imagined she only lacked the black hood and a scythe to fill the role of the grim reaper. Minister's face was void of any worry though. All that Lee could read from her was that the next person she found guilty was in deep shit.

"Read these first! Out loud!" The Emperor ordered, and passed the two pieces of paper.

She took those and already opened her mouth, but her hands trembled, and she had to take a deep breath before continuing. Clearly she ran through the text with her eyes first.

Then she began, "Sid, I need an urgent report on the goldmines in Elsdon. We have a chance to station one of the three there if the situation is as we expected. It will give you the opportunity to take him out the next year together with the junior who'll come visit at some point. We'll make their name a laughingstock. Signed 'P'."

Then the minister took a deep breath, and said, "I can verify that it is Minister Powel's handwriting!"

Lee expected a loud commotion to break out, but was shocked that apart from a couple of hisses and gasps, nothing happened. The man in question also said nothing, although his face was whiter than the floor marble, and his lips were trembling, and hands visibly shaking. This was the moment when Lee began to have a bad premonition.

"And the second letter." Minister Ironfist continued, "We were right. Mines will run dry in a year at most. Send the bastard over. May the God protect you! Signed 'S' … and … there is a small triangle drawing with a palm in the middle, at the bottom right corner …"

This was the moment when Powel had to jump up, shout it's a setup! and demand someone would check the mines. Or at least throw in other arguments. At least to Lee's understanding, but the man said nothing, even though the other members of the council felt the large table vibrating from how hard he shook.

"Victoria?" The Emperor turned to his daughter, but Lee already knew where things were about to go, and she didn't let him down.

This time, though, she stood up, slowly pulled out her sword and smacked it on the table, leaving a long scar.

"Traitors are to be beheaded!" She said in her melodic voice, but Lee got chills since it reminded him of her deadly command in Pine Village. But from then on everything went wrong.

The Emperor asked, "Minister Ironfist, what is your opinion?"

"The Crown Princess's verdict is proper, but no matter how I dislike it, we need to find out who this Sid is!" She said.

'Oh, no!' Lee finally realized his mistake. And it was not a negligible one.

"Bring them away!" The Emperor ordered, and Virgil Stronheart was already standing behind Minister Powel and his daughter.

Young Stronheart's expression was grave as he picked up the two up by their necks like dead chickens, and quickly departed along with his both piers, Mark Hardwood and Ian Foxson, while the old generals remained in the hall with the rest.

"Minister Farcry!" The Emperor spoke the moment the door closed, "Until the further notice you will take over former Minister Powel's duties."

Then came the worst. The emperor stood up and Lee felt his vision swimming away. All he could see was a huge demon, covered in blood, pulling out his sword.

And the demon said, "Follow me! There is no place for traitors in the capital!"

Lee had no recollection on how he got home, but fortunately Alan didn't join the other ministers to watch or assist the cleansing of the Powel clan, and probably was the reason why Lee found himself in his own bed the next morning. Still, he had never been so sick. He didn't have fever or anything like that, but had nausea for four days straight and immediately vomited anything Tess gave him to drink or eat.

Physically Lee was fine. Neither of the two royal healers, his stepparents, could find anything wrong. The problem solely lie in the fact that because of him hundreds and maybe even thousands of Powel's household members died, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

Obviously he knew only Hannah and her father, and, apart from her being an accomplice in his parents murder, they weren't that bad. But because of his negligence, no, because of something he considered a practical, but a deadly joke, many more people died.

If Lee wasn't in such agony, he could've laughed at the old expression that a pen is mightier than a sword. And indeed it was. But his killed innocents, and hundreds at that.

Up until now he had led careless lives and mostly tried to have fun. Yes, there were Lisa's and his tragic deaths, but he got the revenge. And when several lives later the second big calamity struck, he was also about to get the revenge, but his playfulness resulted in disastrous consequences.

And while initially he was fine with the emperor executing Powel, Hannah and maybe their closest family members … it was not fine at all! What the hell was he thinking! And Powel, and probably Hannah too, got tortured, hundreds of people killed, for what? His revenge? Ridiculous!

Had he become a wolf after living with wolves? Or had he degraded into a degenerate hyena that didn't have any ethical values? So what if this was a dog eats dog world? He didn't have to become such! He, of all people, knew this was not the first and not the last life! No matter what he did – he always had to live with himself afterwards!

Obviously there were people who thought they had the right to kill others if they wished or could. The emperor and his daughter were the closest examples. But they didn't have to live with it, at least not more than one life! He was the one who had to!

Only on the fifth day Lee finally was capable of drinking a warm herbal tea, but he started to eat only on the seventh. When on the ninth he got out of the bed, he directly grabbed his writing utensils and drew, but all he could draw was a face, Powel's face. For some reason Hannah's image never came to his mind, but the deathly pale Powel's expression never left.

He continued to draw the only thing that was in front of him for days. Tess was horrified, but the best thing she could do was to burn the images that kept piling up at increased rate. It was to be expected that Lee's skill and speed improved after drawing the same thing over and over again, but this was the only way he could finally find some peace.

He didn't hate or resent himself, but he didn't think that what he had done was acceptable by any means. In fact, he wasn't sure what to think, but the drawing process worked as a strange form of meditation and with time helped him to calm down.

Lee didn't speak much, but after twenty odd days his stepmother could finally heave a sigh of relief when he asked her to take him out for a walk in the city.