Chapter 86 - Leader of the Kanta Clan (1/2)

It was decided that I would visit Mariela alone first and gauge how angry Franz was after Al's accusations. I headed to her chambers the moment I was free from morning tea the following day.

She lay in bed looking over some of her husband's ledgers while he worked on something else in a chair by the fire when I came in. He raised an eyebrow at me. ”I notice your shadow isn't with you this morning.”

”Franz,” Mariela said warningly.

”It's alright,” I reassured her.

That comment could be construed as slightly hostile but aside from that, he didn't seem terribly angry. Yet. I was here to stir the waters and test out the depth of his ire. I took a deep breath before continuing.

”I won't apologize for what Al said. All of you royals have treated him terribly and deserve more than a few terse words. The only reason I am helping you is because I believe Sigmund would be a worse king. That doesn't mean I like you or will forget what you've done.”

Franz surprised me by smiling. Unnerved, I instinctually took a step back. Getting chewed out by someone is not supposed to make you smile.

I thought I had the guy figured out. He wanted to be king because he felt that he was smarter and more civic minded than his crazy brother. And he was emotionally dense because he had to take love advice from a girl who had never even been on a proper date about how to treat his wife.

He had seemed to fit neatly in a corner of 'sheltered royal who thinks he knows everything but doesn't really.' Nothing he had done had surprised me in months. So why was his behavior pattern changing now?

Franz sighed. ”You know, Alpheus has never once spoken his mind in front of me before two days ago. He always stood by and accepted everything that was said and done, albeit reluctantly. I never understood him. After a while I stopped trying because it was easier not to.

”His accusations were more accurate than I would like to admit. I ignored his distress because I was trying to get my parents' attention away from Sigmund and onto me. I never questioned why he was treated that way at all. I did a little research into the Kanta clan after he stormed out with you in tow…I believe he is right about his identity. Knowing my father, I would guess that he is someone of great importance to those people.”

So he had thought along the same lines as me. Well, we were both well-versed in politics. I wasn't about to give away Al's secret though without knowing where his adoptive brother stood.

”What would you do if he was?” I asked casually.

Franz eyed me strangely. ”Why would I need to do anything? Any remaining Kanta had to have scattered too far to ever regroup. I cannot agree with my father's genocidal actions but I cannot undo them either.”

What a disappointment. Maybe I really had backed the wrong horse. No, that wasn't true. Sigmund was a complete tyrant according to the novel. This idiot was supposedly a decent king but right now I was questioning that.