>>5708449“Not treason,” Ewald states firmly. “Never. You may not be a member of our order, but you ARE the eldest son of paladin King Archos. You may not be a PERFECT man, but I do not believe you are an evil man—just a man, flawed as all men, and one to whom I owe my allegiance. That you would be party to all this… To demonic corruption, inhuman subversion, the assassination of your brother, the selling of your sister to be wed to a beast… No, I do not believe that Prince Rufos would do such a thing.”
Ewald nods to Marzineo, who releases the king’s head. Before he can struggle free or cry out again, Ewald takes hold of his face in one gauntleted hand, and forces him to meet his own eyes—eyes now alight with the heavenly glow of a <Detect Evil> spell.
“But you, deep inside the Prince… Yes, I see you, little worm… You WOULD, wouldn’t you? Prince Rufos can be redeemed, but you…”
The paladin knight draws his holy sword, and Rufos—or whatever puppets Rufos, and so corrupts him—stares at it in trembling terror.
“YOU must be destroyed.”
