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Angie was a princess who frequently trained with knights, one day as she was finishing with a small party with the nobles she got orders to go down to see the perjurer. It wasn’t uncommon for those orders to come through so she wasn’t expecting much.
Angie walked down the cold stone stairs that were falling apart after all these years, she was on her way to talk to the notorious Isabella, the woman who attacked the beloved imperial family and tried to frame them.
“Wake up, Perjurer.” Angie’s voice rang through the cold and empty dungeon.
Isabella remained silent and cordial through the insult and just smiled at Angie.
“I have some questions for you, answer them correctly or you will be subject to the death penalty.” Angie was used to her not answering with anything other than smiles and nods.
Isabella nodding in response before Angie asked the first question, the question that nobody seemed to have a clear answer on,
“Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill them and frame them?” Angie seemed to be mad as she asked the question yet she tried to remain calm and wait for Isabella to answer.
“Because they killed them.” Isabella said with a cold yet sadistic voice. “They killed my friends, their families, they killed them all. All for a test.” Isabella answered, she was numb inside.
The room fell silent, nobody had ever received an answer from Isabella before about that question, and yet Angie did.
After a couple moments of silence, Angie stumbled back in shock wondering why she was the one who got an answer, why she was the one who had to go through this confusion.
“What do you mean by that? What’re you trying to play at?” Angie managed to squeak out.
Isabella did nothing but smile at her with that smile, that horrible smile, the same one she had when she was imprisoned, Angie would know, it’s told to kids whenever they misbehave.
“Answer me!” Angie cried out, clearly longing for questions and wondering what more to Isabella’s sick mind is hidden.
After a couple more moments Angie is getting ready to strike Isabella, as she usually has to do.
“I was the heir, well, supposed to be. As you know, a couple months before that, my eldest siblings passed in an unfortunate accident.” Isabella stated with a calm yet fragile voice.
Angie just stood there, listening, not knowing what to say.
“The elders thought I wasn’t ready, and though my ‘parents’ agreed, they gave me a chance through a test. You’d think it was a usual test with how I would deal with managing the kingdom but no.” Isabella pauses for a moment, clearly not wanting to remember this yet perseveres through it.
Angie is still speechless yet is listening closely, knowing at any moment Isabella could stop talking.
Isabella sighs and speaks again “They sent me and my friends out to travel around the empire, get to know the situations and try to fix them. Yet then one of the advisors came to check out progress then conveniently dropped a box with my name on it in the dirt, we didn’t notice it first but then”
Isabella chokes up, holding in tears and just stops speaking again.
Angie finally speaks again clearly wanting the rest of the story as Isabella didn’t even say it when she was dragged down here for questioning.
“What happened? What was the box? Was the box yours?” Angie flooded Isabella with questions, not wanting to wait to hear the story.
Silence filled the room, Angie grew frustrated, Isabella wanted to get this over with.
“Did they ever tell anyone about my friends?” Isabella asked barely above a whisper.
Angie was confused, nobody knew the Perjurer, Isabella had friends outside of the nobles, and even they didn’t interact enough to genuinely be called friends.
“What friends? The Nobles?” Angie asked, clearly confused and wanting information.
Isabella slightly smiled before speaking “No, they lived on the outskirts of the empire. Two siblings, and a very hardworking guy. Would you like to know their names?”
Isabella was both uncomfortable and glad she could speak about them whilst Angie was baffled, nobody told her or even spoke about the Perjurer having any friends they only mentioned how she was an excellent princess that suddenly snapped one day.
“What were their names..?” Angie finally spoke, the noise of the cold dripping water in the background