Corrin blearily looked up from his and Azura's stack of paperwork as a knock on the door woke him from his uncomfortable nap. Ever since Azura had been poisoned and was lying in their bed, unconscious, Corrin was forced to take up both of their workloads. The workload was…crushing. Between holding court and doing all the paperwork for that, he now had to cover for Azura's own workload. Otis had offered to help him with Azura's part, but Corrin declined. He wanted something that distracted him from his everyday thoughts, mainly because those thoughts currently involved a songstress lying in their bed, poisoned, pale, and on the brink of death.

Corrin shook his head. No, stop it. Don't think about that right now. Focus on what's in front of you.

Corrin couldn't help but scowl as the person knocked again, more insistently this time. "Milord?" someone called, and Corrin vaguely registered the voice as belonging to Kaze. "Milord, are you in there?"

"What is it?" Corrin called back, lifting his head up from the desk as Kaze walked in.

It had been while since he saw the green-haired ninja. Despite technically being Corrin's head spymaster, Corrin rarely saw or talked to his friend. Between his castle duties, taking care of the homestead he shared with Mozu, and taking care of their child, Corrin often went weeks or months without seeing even a single hair of his friend. Now, he was glad that he never released Kaze from his service, a notion he had debated over for the longest time, though he was sure the ninja would help him in this situation no matter what.

"What is it?" Corrin asked roughly. "I'm busy."

"Busy taking a nap, apparently," the green-haired ninja said dryly. Noticing the dark circles under his liege's eyes, he added, "You should take a break, milord."

"I can't," Corrin said, gesturing to the massive pile of papers scattered on his desk. "I have work."

"You're only doing this to yourself so you won't have to think about Lady Azura," Kaze said, observant as always. "It's not healthy."

Corrin glared up at Kaze, who stared back steadfastly. "It's not your wife that was poisoned," he snapped. "How about this? You and I switch places. You can be the one dealing with the knowledge that your pregnant wife was poisoned and is on the brink of death, and I can be the one helping you track down the culprit. How's that?"

Kaze bristled, an unusual show of discomfort from the usually cool and level-headed ninja. It pained him to see his friend like this, it really did, but at the same time, he couldn't help but sympathize with his situation. If Mozu was the one poisoned, Kaze would probably be burying himself up the head in work just to avoid thinking about it, but then again…

"That's not important right now, milord," Kaze said, steering the conversation back on track. "We've captured the culprit."

Corrin's eyes widened as he sat up, instantly awake despite his aching bones. "The culprit?" he asked. "Like…the one who—"

"Yes," Kaze said, nodding firmly. "The very one. We caught him just a few minutes ago, and we're taking him to the dungeons as we speak."

"Take me to him," Corrin demanded, standing up.

"Of course, milord," Kaze said, inkling his head before turning around to lead Corrin out from his office.

As Corrin passed the glass case containing Yato, he paused and looked at the golden weapon. After a moment's consideration, Corrin shrugged and opened the case, buckling the golden scabbard onto his belt.

Sometimes, words won't cut it.

Corrin had been in the dungeons only once before, and that single experience was enough to change his view on how he handled court. He considered New Gyges to be a very nice place to live. He wanted it to be a place of joy and happiness, as cliché as that sounded, but as Corrin learned the hard way, there can be no joy without sorrow.

Torches flickered and cracked along the gray stone walls as Kaze led Corrin down a passageway lined with cells. The stone was cold and wet under Corrin's bare feet, and Corrin was forced to duck more than once in order to avoid a stray cobweb.

Finally, after walking for what felt like forever, Kaze stopped in front of a cell and spoke a few words to the guard in front of it. Satisfied, the guard stepped to the side and allowed Corrin and Kaze to approach the cell. Corrin stopped and looked at the prisoner inside.

It was the servant who had served had served him and Azura that fateful day. It appeared that he been dragged here involuntarily, judging by the bruises and cuts along his face and arms. His hands were chained together to the ceiling, and as Corrin's eyesight adjusted to the darkness of the cell, he saw the one of the man's eyes was missing, obscured by a lock of black hair.

"Wake up, inmate," the guard said nastily, rattling the cell bars with the butt of his lance. "Your majesty would like to have a few words with you."

The servant lifted his head up, confirming Corrin's suspicions that the man was indeed missing an eye. The servant stared back at him blankly, almost if he was staring through him instead of at him. The dullness of his gaze concerned Corrin, but he forced that feeling down.

Remember, he tried to kill Azura and Ada. He doesn't deserve anything.

"What is your name?" he said, gripping the cell bars with his hands.

The servant said nothing.

The guard pointed his lance through the space between the bars and roughly prodded him with the butt of his lance. "Hey, look up when the king's talking to you. Answer his question."

The man groggily spat some blood onto the floor as he glared at Corrin. "The name's Mando," he said. "Mando Rusworth. Son of Garald Rusworth and—"

"I don't care who your parents are," Corrin said coldly, tightening his grip around the call bar. "I'm here to talk, and you will answer me."

"Fat chance," Mando said, spitting out another glob of blood. "I've already confessed to everything. I poisoned Lady Azura accidentally while trying to poison you, milord."

"Don't you dare say her name!" Corrin said, banging the cell bar and causing everybody, including Kaze to flinch and look up at the half-dragon. "After what you've done to her, you don't deserve to say her name."

"As you wish, milord," Mando said sardonically.

"He's been like this for hours now," the guard whispered to Corrin. "Besides his confession and his name, we haven't been able to get anything out of him."

Corrin looked at the guard out the corner of his eye. "I thought you said you just caught him?"

"That's my mistake," Kaze said hurriedly, stepping in between the two men. "We actually caught him about four hours ago, trying to sneak out of his city. He hadn't shown up to his shift and the other servants were talking about it, so I pulled a few strings and had him captured before he could escape."

"And you didn't tell me?" Corrin asked angrily. "I should've been the first one to know! If anything, I—"

The sound of low chucking paused Corrin's words in half and the three men turned to see Mando laughing darkly to himself. His chains rattled noisily as he pulled on them, and as Corrin gripped the cell bar again, Mando asked mockingly, "How would you feel if Lord Anankos could see you know? Or worse…" he waggled his eyebrows, "…Lady Azura?"

Kaze was the first to recover. "What…did you just say?" he asked. "Lord Anankos is dead, and so is his power."

Mando gurgled again as he broke into a coughing fit. Blood splattered the floor in chucks as he continued laughing. As soon as his fit ceased, Mando shook his head and said, "If only you knew, little dragon. Lord Anankos and his power will never die. He shall reign forever, and with him, we shall—"

Mando gurgled again as something long, white, and black pierced his belly. Kaze and the guard looked at Corrin in surprise as they saw that he had transform one of his arms into a long dragon lance, the point of which was embedded into the wall on the other side of Mando's body.

Mando coughed again, splattering the limb piercing his body. "Knew it," he coughed. "It was…only…a matter of time…before…urgh."

Slowly, Mando's body fell limp, and as he died, Corrin could make out the words "All hail Anankos," under his breath.

For a moment, both Kaze and the guard stared in shock at Corrin and at the servant's limp body. Like before, Kaze was the first to recover and he grabbed Corrin by the shoulders.

"What did you just do?" he said. "What did you just do?"

"What I had to," Corrin said simply. He transformed his lance-arm back into its normal form and looked pointedly at the guard. "Say nothing of what happened here," he ordered. "Am I understood?"

The guard hurriedly nodded. "Y-yes, milord," he stammered. "Of course."

"Good." Corrin turned towards Kaze. "Make sure we get rid of the body. Leave no evidence."

Kaze frowned. "But milord, you—"

"Leave. No. Evidence." Each word was hard and cold, and Kaze couldn't help but shiver at the cold fury in his friend's voice.

Kaze desperately wanted to act as a friend and grab Corrin by the shoulders and shake them until his anger dissipated, but he made an oath to himself long ago that he would always put duty above all else. It was a hard oath to live by…but it certainly grounded him at some points.

This was the first time he wished it didn't.

"Of course," Kaze said, twisting his hand over his chest in a respectful gesture. "As…as you wish."