Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Chapter 86: Leader of the Kanta Clan

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 towI 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.

He couldn't bring all of the people the king killed back to life but he could restore their lands to the survivors and compensate them for the use of the mines all those years. It was the very least he could do.

I shook my head. "There is a thing called restitution, have you heard of it? Anything is better than nothing."

Now was my time to pull out the big guns. All of my acting skills had to be put into play now. "And here I thought you would be a better king than Sigmund. I guess I was wrong. It isn't too late for me to take up his offer to be an aide. I'm sure he would give me what I want since he wants my input so desperately."

Mariela didn't get offended on her husband's behalf or try to entreat me. She watched me through narrowed eyes, obviously understanding what I was trying to do. Sometimes people had to be tricked into doing the right thing.

Franz took the bait, as I knew he would. Nothing mattered to him more than replacing his brother as heir to the throne.

"You cannot do that! You are too involved in my plan; I will not allow you. II will" he blustered, realizing he couldn't touch me.

I was a princess, albeit an unimportant one, and switching who I supported was not an act of treason. He couldn't threaten or punish me in any way and it was driving him mad. I could see the gears turning in his brain as he weighed the options.

"What do you want?" Franz asked flatly. "In exchange for remaining as one of my aides."

The battle was already won. I replied with a victorious smile on my face.

"Simple, really. Return the lands to the Kanta people and give them an equal value to half of the profits their mines have made over the past twenty-two years. That should help them rebuild. After that, they control the mines. You'll have to barter with the clan leader for any future use of those minerals."

"Their clan leader was killed! Who would I" he cut himself off and narrowed his eyes. "Are you serious?"

I shrugged innocently. "I didn't say anything."

I didn't have to. Franz wasn't an idiot; putting two and two together was simple enough based on our conversation. He had already deduced that Al was important to the Kanta clan. Who was more important than the one who continued the bloodline of the clan leader?

Ayana had told us that every clan leader's firstborn since the very beginning had been a son as part of the mountain spirits' blessing. Only the firstborn son could take over control of the clan. The king knew this, which was why he had taken Al and raised him far from the mountains he was destined to protect.