You should've known better, really.

It wouldn't be this easy to kill an emperor, much less a tyrant that was Soren. You knew that. He was the very man who killed his own siblings for the throne, the man who singlehandedly destroyed rebel movements against the imperial family. Still, you tried your damned hardest, and look where it got you. Trapped. Bested by the very man you hate.

"My love, you must take me for a fool."

Soren croons. He smiles a loving, twisted smile—even as you press the blade closer to his neck. It's against his skin, droplets of blood emerging from the shallow wound. There's no wince that escapes his pretty lips. He doesn't show that he's hurt. He doesn’t show anything but adoration in his eyes.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

He's known it all since the beginning. All of your plans, your goals. The rebellion. He wasn’t an idiot. There was no mistaking the hatred that you put behind a sweet facade. Soren knew you were a traitor from the fallen kingdom his empire's conquered, knew that you’d gone undercover. Firstly as a ‘diplomat’ to salvage your kingdom from perishing from its internal and external wounds, then, as his consort to seduce him and kill him when he least expected it. But before you knew it, there was a ring on your finger, and you became a monarch alongside him.

You gritted your teeth throughout it all. Held his hand when he wished to, slept beside him as he held you close, tight against his chest. All those attempts to end him were for naught. From poison to coercion, nothing worked against him. It's as if he was unwilling to die. Taunting you with his charming smile and a touch that lingered a little too long for someone who considered your kingdom as a measly thing, a speck of dust compared to his rising nation overpowering others.

Why is it that he hasn’t killed you yet, knowing of your true identity? There’s no way Soren actually loved you, right? He was a cruel tyrant. Such a person couldn’t possibly have a heart for anyone else other than himself.