"We shed blood and tears and sweat to protect the Kingdom of Enlightenment. Pulled it up when it began to crumble and rebuilt it stronger than ever before. We ensured it remained a kingdom of thought and wisdom, of great and valuable thinking. There were tyrants there, too, who thought they could do as they pleased and ignore everything the kingdom stood for. Who allowed in corruption that would have dragged it down. But we did not allow it, and we stopped every one of them."
"You call yourselves guardians, but it sounds more like control." Mingzhe pointed out.
"Are they not the same?" Lady Yang asked, head cocked to the side like she was actually considering.
"No, they are not." Mingzhe was firm. "Perhaps they are easy to confuse, but they are not."
"You are young." Lady Yang shook her head. "And idealistic. Someday you will learn that things are not so clear-cut or simple."
"You're making excuses for a family history you only know from stories."
"My family carries its history in our blood." Lady Yang insisted. "We keep detailed records of every event, no matter how big or how small."
"But they are only from your point of view." Mingzhe didn't understand how she didn't see that. "Your family may have decided those people were bad or against what the kingdom stood for, but did anyone else agree?"
Lady Yang's voice was cold. "That was not for them to decide."
"So you appointed yourselves judge, jury, and executioner?" Suddenly, he was terribly sad. He had thought so highly of her over the years. So many people did. To see how wrong he'd been, how deep her misunderstanding ran, was as shocking as it was disturbing.
"We protected the throne, what the kingdom stood for." Her voice was steel. She was not going to be moved; that much was clear.
Mingzhe shook his head. "It is natural for kingdoms to change over time. Just as people do. Forcing it to remain the same as the world around it changes is far more dangerous." A dark thought occured to him, and he felt bad that he also felt a dark curl of pleasure at the realization that the Yangs had likely hastened the fall of the Kingdom of Enlightenment through their voracious control of it. A white hand of help transformed into a black hand of death through righteous judgment.
"Change may be normal and good, but that does not mean we need to allow for bad change. Should we simply sit back and allow a tyrant to come to power? To allow them to hurt their own people, destroy their own lands, in the name of change?" She made it sound reasonable and sane, but Mingzhe was beginning to see where the cracks were. Extremism in either direction was more dangerous than anything else. Moderation was required, well, perhaps not required, but it was the best way to ensure happiness and safety and growth all at once. But even that required the ability to change and adapt as needed. Sometimes happiness was the priority, sometimes growth, sometimes safety.
The leader who prioritized one above all others would strangle their kingdom and people. Crushing them under the weight of a singular focus that perhaps started out good, but would end in disaster.
"Chenzhou is not a tyrant." Mingzhe barely managed to keep the heat out of his voice. Recognizing that he needed to be very careful in how he came across to her now. Lady Yang had hidden her extremism so far, but now that he knew it was there, he understood how truly dangerous she was. There was no end to what she could justify as necessary under that banner.
Lady Yang sniffed. "No, I would not say so. He is too weak."
"He was ill." Mingzhe pointed out. "And not by his own fault." A hint of a smile came to her face, and Mingzhe realized. "Ah, another of your machinations?"
How had no one seen it?
"Not mine specifically." Lady Yang let her smile grow. "An ancestor who understood the necessity of removing weak leaders before they made their kingdoms as weak as them."
Mingzhe's mind whirled. So it was generational. It wasn't just Lady Yang; it was her entire bloodline. It made sense with what Eirian had said about the poisoning, with what they'd discovered about the Arnheims and Chenzhou's own ancestors. That meant that Hikari was most likely involved. That the entire family was. Perhaps that was how they went unnoticed for so long. The Yang family was large, and while they mostly focused on the archers of the Crimson Army, they had members in many other branches as well. A slow spreading infection that had taken hold of the entire body without anyone noticing until it had started to tighten its hold.
Just like the poison that had plagued Chenzhou and his family.
A metal shield.
A metal mask.
A metal crest.
A metal pendant.
How simple it all seemed now.
How obvious.
"Chenzhou is a good leader." He reiterated, and he was about to call out the expression of distaste that crossed her face when another thought occured to him. "As is Eirian. Do you imagine you have the power to take on the strength of the throne of Sorrow? The Soliels are powerful, and she is close with the king you claim to serve. He will burn this entire estate from the rock if she is harmed by it." Neither of them had any way of knowing if he was exaggerating or not. Eric had not been forced to choose between his power and Eirian yet, and there was no true way of predicting which way he would go.
Lady Yang frowned, looking troubled for the first time since their conversation began. "Princess Soliel is a…predicament, but such predicaments are not impossible to handle. She has only been here for a short time; it is likely she will forget this place once she leaves."
"You assume she will. Even if Chenzhou is gone, she is his heir, and I doubt the King will take her inheritance in favor of you." It felt childishly good to insult her. Petty even.
Lady Yang's face tightened. "He is a young kind. Like Lord Ye."
"Being young does not equal being weak." Mingzhe felt his own ire rise. "One could easily argue that being old makes you weak."
Lady Yang ignored him. "I have no design on the throne of Sorrow. Yangs are protectors of the throne, not the ones sitting on it."
"And you think that will save you? You are trying to destroy his favorite cousin's husband. There is no argument in the world that will convince him she will come out unharmed."
"As I said, he is young." Lady Yang smiled. "And I am old. I have played this game for far longer than any of you. Love of power always triumphs over love of blood for those who sit on a throne."
She was trying to convince herself, more than him, Mingzhe realized. And maybe she was right, maybe in the past that had always triumphed.
But something told Mingzhe that wouldn't be the case this time.
~ tbc