The prison cell was cold and hard. To the girl, it wasn't so different from the underground. The meager portions, even for her last meal, were more than she ever ate before. Complimented by the indifferent glances of guards passing by, it felt just like home.
In that cage, her hatred began to subside and morph into something else. Something that wasn't fear or anger. She wasn't particularly scared to die; she hadn't been in a while, yet the heavy emotion was certainly weighty, and made her tremble. The thing the girl was experiencing for the first time was remorse.
Every time she looked down at her hands, they were stained with red. She couldn't forget the princess's face as she watched her mother die. The screams. The splash of warm blood on her cheek. The fading of eyes. Whether that woman whose life she'd stolen was guilty or innocent was irrelevant; she had taken it upon herself to judge the existence of another and dictate their fate, just like a god. She saw so many people die in the underground, she didn't think much of it at first. It was only when she took a life with her own hands, that she understood its value.
If the pain she felt was the burden of hurting and killing others, she didn't want it. She regretted it deeply, but couldn't take it back, no matter what. Killing wasn't glorious like she thought, nor was it heroic. It was the worst thing in the world.
The moment she felt the flesh yield to her knife's edge, the people didn't cheer or celebrate as she had been promised. She didn't feel like their savior, because she wasn't. She was their villain, and the object of their hate. Those piercing eyes stared at her like she was a monster, and perhaps she was. Right or wrong, to kill another wasn't the duty of a child. It wasn't anyone's duty at all.
The night before the girl's trial was set to take place, a man walked up to her cell. It was the same man who had encouraged her the day she killed the queen.
"Good work, hero," he said. "I'm glad to see our plan worked flawlessly. The only thing left for you to do is die."
The girl's eyes shot open, and she ran up to the cage's front, grabbed the bars with simmering fists.
"Calm down," he said. "It wasn't the glory you were promised, but I assure you, you are a hero. The queen's death is a necessary step in saving the kingdom from its own destruction, and while history will deem you a devious criminal, I alone will know you are a hero. Certainly, that's more than enough for you?"
"What do you mean?" the girl asked.
"We are but cogs of a clock, ticking away toward a future we can't control," the man said. "Even so, we march on, hoping we can one day change its course. Your action is only a beat of a butterfly, but I assure you, one day, far in the future, it will become a monstrous hurricane."
The girl dropped her hands as the strength left her body. She dragged herself back to the corner and plopped herself down. She hadn't a clue what he was saying, but she was sure of one thing: she had been used. Not just by the man before her, but the very man she called her master.
"I'm sorry things had to be this way, but it's for the greater good, I promise," the man said.
"Why me?" the girl muttered.
"There was no reason in particular," the man said. "You're not special or anything, that much is for sure. It could have been any streetrat, it just happened to be you."
The girl remained silent.
"Now, please, for the sake of this kingdom, die without a word," the man said. "If the truth about Guinevere's death gets out, her sacrifice will be for naught. As someone who's never known loyalty before, this is your one chance to show it. Do you understand?"
The girl just nodded.
"You did well," he said, turning around. "Rest easy, dear. You've done enough."
The man gave her one last pitiful look and walked away. That night, she lay awake with an aching heart, simply wanting one thing, and one thing only: for her suffering to finally be over.
This desire, for better or for worse, would never be realized, and her story was far from over. That was because the next day, during the trial, she was spared by Sako, who then took her far away.