Weight Of Responsibilities

The war had ended.

But peace never truly came.

It simply arrived wearing a different face.

In the months following our victory, the palace felt emptier than ever before. Every corridor carried memories of those who would never walk through them again.

My father was dead.

Loid was dead.

Ryuk was still missing.

No matter how many scouts I sent, no matter how many reports crossed my desk, there was never any trace of him.

It was as if he had vanished from the world itself.

One evening, Lila called me to her chambers.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

She stood near the window, watching the sunset paint the sky red.

"Ares," she finally said, "you should become king of both kingdoms."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"The throne of Laceril is already yours. My husband's kingdom needs a ruler as well."

I immediately shook my head.

"No."

The answer came without hesitation.

I was barely holding myself together.

Every day felt heavier than the last.

The kingdom was broken.

The treasury was strained.

Our people were grieving.

And somehow she expected me to shoulder another crown?

"I can't."

"You can."

Her voice was calm.

Almost emotionless.

The same voice she used whenever she had already made a decision.

Later, Queen Iris supported the idea.

Even Lady Emma, despite her worsening health, seemed to agree.

The physicians could not cure her illness.

Month after month, she grew weaker.

I felt trapped.

The kingdom needed stability.

The nobles wanted certainty.

The people wanted a leader.

In the end, I accepted.

Not because I wanted to.

Because I felt I had no choice.

That was the first lesson of kingship.

Sometimes your decisions are not choices at all.

They are responsibilities disguised as choices.

As years passed, I began understanding something else.

Lila had never loved her husband.

Not even a little.

Their marriage had been nothing more than a political treaty.

A contract written by nobles and sealed by crowns.

When he died, she mourned him respectfully.

But never deeply.

The realization shocked me.

For the first time, I understood how different we truly were.

Where I held onto emotions, Lila buried them.

Where I saw people, she saw outcomes.

Perhaps that was why she survived pain better than the rest of us.

Shashaya and Resu suffered the most.

They had lost their brothers.

The wounds left by Loid's execution and Ryuk's disappearance never fully healed.

I understood their grief.

After all, I was carrying the same burden.

We simply learned to smile while carrying it.

By the time I reached twenty-two years of age, the kingdoms had changed completely.

The ruins of war had become cities once more.

Trade routes flourished.

Armies expanded.

New alliances were forged.

Under our rule, both kingdoms grew stronger than ever before.

Lila became my closest advisor.

Many feared her.

Most respected her.

I trusted her more than anyone.

Eventually, I returned her late husband's throne to her authority and declared her the ruling Empress of that kingdom, while I remained the supreme ruler of the growing alliance between our lands.

Years of conquest and diplomacy followed.

Territories joined us.

Some willingly.

Others reluctantly.

When the dust settled, my influence stretched farther than I had ever imagined as a child.

The nobles began calling me a great king.

I never liked the title.

Greatness often hides the graves upon which it stands.

To celebrate the prosperity of the realm, a grand ball was held in the royal palace.

Music echoed through the halls.

Nobles danced.

Wine flowed endlessly.