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“Did father ever apologise to you?” You end up asking in a relatively low voice after you stretch and settle yourself comfortably in your bed.
“He hasn’t said anything rude,” She says with a sweet smile that seems almost hollow in a way. It makes you feel bad, “Don’t worry, Lori, I know dads can just be like that.”
“Right…” Quick! Topic change! “What about the survivors of last night? Did Clarice make it?”
“She did, along with everyone else that was alive when you passed out. Everyone from our group, at least. One of the other groups positioned away from the forest only has some light injuries from when they joined the knight, but the other…”
“Were there any survivors?”
“A couple, but they had to face the full force of the forest’s vanguard; it wasn’t pretty.”
The two of you are silent for a moment. It isn’t a good feeling knowing that a lot of people died because of your plan. It’s almost enough to make you sick. But you can also not allow such feelings to hold you back. You are royalty, and this is a burden your noble birth foists upon you, so you have been trained on how to process these emotions and not let them control you. Your will is stronger than that.
“Have their families been suitably compensated?”
Marie nods, “The adventurer’s guild has systems in place for situations like this. So you don’t have to worry about that, it will be taken care of.”
“That’s good,” You trail off and stare at nothing in particular past the edge of your bed. Your body hurts, and your mind's full of haze, so holding an extended conversation is proving to be rather difficult. “Do you want to see my sword?”
“H-huh?!” Marie exclaims.
“Er- uh- I mean- My closet.”
“You're what?”
“I have a walk-in armory over there,” You say, pointing to the side of your room, “I-i can show you some if you’d like?” Nice save.
Marie blinks, “I don’t have anything better to do. How about I get your breakfast and you can tell me about them as you eat?”
“Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
