RECAP :

  She finally looked at me.

  “If we’re alive,” I said, “it’s to carry their will.”

  Her eyes trembled

  I hugged her and said “let's do our best for the fallen soldiers”

  Man this is the first time I'm hugging a woman, I have to go away before she throws slippers on me. Though it's my first hug ??.

  I left her and joined everyone.

  Episode 10

  Sunday morning

  Sunday did not feel like a new day.

  It felt like a continuation of something that had already gone wrong.

  I opened my eyes to the same dull glow hanging above us, its light thinning and thickening like a tired breath.

  Slow Boots sound .

  The guards hadn’t moved all night. They never did. The sound of their armor shifting had become part of the air itself, like a second heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.

  Even in my sleep, I’d known exactly where they were standing. Even now, I could feel their attention without looking.

  Moreover we are just a criminals now,

  I can't blame them for who they are. I'm also a criminal now.

  What a fate I'm tangled in.

  I pushed myself upright. My joints protested quietly, not in pain, just exhaustion.

  Across from me, Lapace was already awake, seated with his back against the wall.

  He looked the same as he always did in moments like this—neither noble nor broken, just tired in a way that no position could fix.

  Draken stood behind him,

  Stark was crouched near the far side, hands moving in slow, deliberate patterns.

  She was so calm as if nothing gonna affect her,

  Misaki noticed me first.

  She offered a hand, “good morning William”

  I replied her the same

  When I looked too far

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  Scarlett was still sitting apart, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around herself. She didn't join us yesterday.

  I hope she will join us today. If not, there's nothing I can do for her. Well I myself don't know whether I have freedom or not in future.

  Luna asked me “should we start? ”

  Yea she's right it might be early morning but there's no time left to rest. I replied her “sure why not ”

  The script lay where I’d left it.

  Folded. Waiting.

  I crossed the floor and picked it up. The parchment felt heavier than paper should, like the weight was in the words themselves.

  I didn’t unfold it right away. I already knew what was written there. The problem wasn’t memory. It was acceptance.

  Behind me, metal shifted.

  One of the guards adjusted his stance. A reminder.

  I unfolded the script.

  No masks.

  That had been the first thing I’d written down. No carved faces, Only facial expressions. If we were going to be judged, it would be as ourselves.

  The silence stretched.

  “This isn’t how drama works,” Stark said without looking up.

  We should have discussed this yesterday itself I guess, I will make it quick

  I raised my voice “NO, ” I replied. “IT’S HOW PEOPLE WORK ”

  She huffed softly.

  Lapace spoke next. “They expect gods. Symbols, and good side of the Ladon’s family, but there's only NEGATIVE ”

  “True but I do have plans for making this ” I said. “Trust me, we can expose things later”

  Misaki’s fingers tightened around the edge of the script as she read. Her lips moved silently, forming words she didn’t let escape. Halfway through the page, her shoulders trembled.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  No one responded immediately. There are moments where silence is cruelty. This wasn’t one of them. This was the kind that allowed truth to breathe.

  “You don’t have to say it like you believe it,” I said gently. “Just say it like it happened.”

  Her eyes lifted to mine. Wet. Angry. Afraid.

  “That’s worse,” she said.

  I nodded. She was right, how can I expect her to say good things about a government who tried to r@p￡ her.

  Scarlett took the script from Misaki , I didn't even notice her moving. Man she might play a cruel role in assassination .

  Her jaw tightened.

  “So that’s how you plan to do it,” she said. “kneeling down to God's and Ladon’s family”

  “We have no choice, but we can alter and say real things about the government and not Ladon’s family, ” I replied.

  I know, I can't make them say good things about God Kael and Ladon’s family. I guess we have to show little things about Ladon’s family as I can't go against God kael.

  She exhaled sharply “You’re insane”

  “Probably, we do have some ethics to follow, ” I replied

  She looked at me for a long moment.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’m in.”

  The words settled heavier than applause ever could.

  Finally Scarlett joined us.

  We practiced.

  Not performance—presence.

  Lapace kept trying to straighten his back, to lift his chin like he used to when speaking to crowds that bowed automatically.

  Each time, I asked him to lower his gaze. Each time, it hurt him in ways no insult could. But to surive I have make him endure those things.

  Draken corrected him once. Then stopped.

  Stark refused to soften her voice. “This is who I am,” she said. “If they don’t like it, they can choke on it.”

  “That’s the point,” I told her, we'll I can't argue much.

  Misaki broke down twice. We waited both times. No one told her to hurry.

  We have managed to get some basic things like coordination and a script of play which is a heart and bone for what we are going to show.

  Time passed, finally the time came. Guards opened the doors and shouted “get ready your @ss and follow us you xukers”

  Lapace tried to interrupt but draken stopped him and said “come on guys we will get our FREEDOM!! ”

  We reached the back side of the stage waiting for a signal to step in.

  When the signal finally came, it wasn’t spoken. One of them stepped forward. That was enough.

  We moved.

  The air changed as we walked. Not suddenly. Each step forward adds something denser to us.

  The sound ahead of us grew louder, layered. Voices. Many of them. Too many to count. They weren’t waiting for us to applaud .

  But waiting to see us being mocked after our show, I hope those things will not happen.

  My chest tightened.

  Scarlett leaned closer. “Still think this will work?”

  “No,” I said honestly.

  She smiled thinly. “So GOOD”

  The threshold swallowed us.

  Light flared—not warm, not welcoming. Exposing. The kind that left nowhere to stand without being seen. The noise hit immediately, like a wall.

  Then recognition.

  It spread faster than sound.

  “That’s her—!”

  “Murderer!”

  “Traitor!”

  I felt the words before I fully heard them, like heat against skin. Faces twisted. Fingers pointed. Someone laughed. Someone else spat.

  “REVOLUTIONARY!”

  The word cut sharper than the rest.

  Lapace stiffened beside me.

  “BETRAYER OF HIS OWN BLOOD!”

  That one landed on him like a physical blow.

  A new sound rose—uneasy, uncertain.

  “Is that—?”

  “ASSASSIN!”

  Stark didn’t flinch. She looked straight ahead, eyes flat, daring anyone to step closer.

  The noise grew. Booing layered over shouting, over whispers, over laughter. It wasn’t unified. It was worse. It was chaotic. Hungry.

  Everyone started to shout at a rhythm

  “ROT IN HELL!!!! ”

  I felt small.

  Not because of fear alone, but because of how easily they’d reduced us to labels. No names. No stories. Just crimes they’d already decided were unforgivable.

  The guards shifted behind us. Close enough now that I could feel the heat of their armor.

  I took one step forward.

  The sound surged.

  I didn’t raise my voice.

  I didn’t raise my hands.

  I just stood there.

  And in that moment—before a single word was spoken—I understood something cold and heavy settling in my chest.

  They weren’t here to watch a drama.

  They were here to watch us break.

  To be continued.