District 42-Chapter 161: Broken
Once Casper heard what the Princess said, his mind denied that in the same moment. He couldn’t afford to tell her something so intimate. He still couldn’t get why Vick was trying to discover all those things about him, but something was for sure: she was planning to use Casper, and she was pretty interested in the fact that he possibly was a soldier.
"I won’t, Vick." He stated, decidedly.
All that atmosphere from before, that was making the two of them feel soothed and peaceful, vanished at once.
Now, that was one of those times when they were enemies rather than friends. Those kinds of situations when they would need to begin their everyday battle.
"If you have something to hide from me about your past, then it gets two times as hard to protect you, Casper! It’s been more than two months, and I still don’t know a thing about you!" She got closer to him on that bench, giving that cold and sharp look that she always gave in Princess mode.
Casper was getting each time more pissed off with that kind of attitude but he held himself the better he could.
People were passing around, after all. They would surely notice if he started to discuss hardly with her. If his voice raised some more decibels, he would be in trouble.
Those passers-by were already looking towards them because of Vick’s inquisition, but since she was the Princess, no one would do a thing about her or say something. A bunch of them would even pretend to not see what was going on.
"Listen, princess, I have a lot of reasons to not tell you a thing about me or my past life, and you can bet money on it that I did nothing wrong before arriving here. If I can’t bring myself to talk more openly with you, Jarls, then it’s because of you all!"
The woman was exasperated. She seemed to be about to snap again, but once more held her angry, biting her tongue.
"Don’t worry, he is playing with your mind again... He wants that I lose my composure... This guy is always a master when it comes to manipulating people..."
Vick got pensive for a while she was trying to choose her words carefully, so Casper couldn’t use them against him, which was another thing that the soldier was a specialist at.
"We aren’t against you, Casper. Please, try to be understanding with our reasons. I know that everything is unclear by now but listen... Listen to me!" She put her hands on his shoulders and turned Casper’s body, making him look at her. She was with serious and assertive eyes and an expression that almost begged the soldier to comprehend what she was saying.
"Casper, listen, we are not bad. All we do, for most cruel that can seem, is for the sake of all those people. There are inconsistencies, there are very suspicious things, and..." She touched her mask. "and there are some very outrageous facts... But everything we do is because the sake of our folk is what is more important..."
Casper couldn’t keep silent anymore. Vick’s words were invading his mind, creeping in his heart, making him get very confused. With the dumbfoundedness, came the anger. Anger after seen so many cruel scenes happening in front of his eyes, awful plans that were still to be made, that melancholic and desperate feeling that was around the entire district since Casper entered there and faced a lot of people with those masks.
It wasn’t simple for him to brush off all those things and don’t see the Ridires and Jarls as the villains of the story.
Casper just didn’t get out of the Castle after all those events because he already had some influence inside there, and was somewhat handcuffed with a lot of things. That place turned to be his base, his temporary house. Although it was risky, he had a lot more to gain than to lose inside there.
"Princess, I passed for hellish moments a lot of times since I arrived here. All of them were triggered because of those masks and other attitudes of the own government. There is no way that I can look at your eyes without being suspicious of anything."
Vick was getting impatient because of the stubbornness of the soldier. She was worrying a lot regarding that matter as well.
Not just Halden had changed Casper’s behavior, but that time also traumatized him and finished to show to him the dark side of the Jarls and the Royal family. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
"Hey... Hey, Casper, look at me! I heard your entire story carefully. I paid attention to every detail, and I am really sorry that something like this happened to you, even though you were the one triggering it... You passed for a lot of troubles that weren’t related to you since you came here, you were obligated to go with the flow. It is frustrating and all... But everything has two sides, and you just saw one side until now!"
The White warrior gave her a strong look, that almost made the Princess back away. She retracted a bit when facing that expression on his face.
"The Frelsi aren’t as bad as they say. I would die for their ideals." He recited the quote that was rounding his mind all this while. "Shall I believe on this phrase, then? If everything has two sides, then they might have theirs as well don’t you think?"
Vick was paralyzed for a moment once that was brought up. She was trying to gather whatever information and knowledge she could. She needed concrete proofs, facts, needed to show in person what was the truth, otherwise, the soldier wouldn’t even consider her words.
Nevertheless, in the end, Vick got nothing to say. She could show him whatever she wanted, but nothing would be the same as making Casper pass for different experiences and let him get his own conclusions.
The White warrior formed his opinion about the Jarls by himself, and so was with the Ridires. Now, he needed to do the same with the Frelsi. However, the Princess couldn’t afford that someone like Casper fell in their hands by any means.
Casper raised from the bench. The Princess followed him right after, trying to prevent him to go away. They still needed to discuss some things about that, and their trip didn’t end, although the lights were about to turn off.
She reached the wrist of the soldier, holding it tightly with her slender fingers and delicate hand. Casper felt like silk was touching him, but at that point not even this could shake him.
"Stop! We need to..."
"I saw them dying, ok?" He murmured, painfully. "All of them. Back at home was the same. I trusted in someone that I thought be a wise person, I gave my all to an organization that I believed in the ideals and objectives, but in the end, I let them all die!" Casper couldn’t hold his will to shout. He wasn’t caring about other people anymore.
"Sionnach died because I trusted too much on her and in myself. That family also died because I couldn’t raise from the ground. All those hundreds of prisoners died as well, everything because I couldn’t be a good leader." The soldier was looking down to the ground, his face darkened, only his agonized voice could show how moved he was.
He raised his head slowly, and then Vick could see in his eyes something that she could never notice once before.
"He isn’t an amazing person... Nor a genius man... Or a strong soldier... Casper is..." She thought.
"And all of it..." He stated with anger and gritting his teeth. "Is because of you! Halden, the Midwest battle, the masks, everything! And to convince me of the contrary... you will need to pass from hell and get back alive from there!"
Vick’s heart felt a sharp pain that crossed all her body once she heard those words.
Casper pulled his arm, and she lost her grip. Then he walked off, not turning back anymore, without a goodbye, nor anything like that.
The curious passers-by were shocked by the outcome. They couldn’t hear what was going on, but the discussion between those two made their jaws drop.
It was a big deal to talk like that with a member of the Royal family and get out alive, after all. In truth, no one ever dared to do something like that.
Vick remained standing at the same local she was before. She kept like that for a while, until Casper disappeared after take a Teleporting pad.
She lost a bit of strength on her legs and just walked back to the bench and sat there.
"Casper is just... a broken man. He is totally broke. I could see it in his painful eyes... He is someone that isn’t trapped by the masks, but by something he carries inside him..."
She rubbed her mask with her hands, feeling frustrated.
"Darn... How will I convince him...? How can I make him understand?"
