"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
-Abraham Lincoln
He could see it.
Every time he closed his eyes, it was as if he were back there, right then—back when the castle was still his home.
He saw servants rushing, not only to clean, but to redecorate.
Through the windows, he saw the barracks livelier than ever, practicing for the ceremony.
He could smell the delicious scent wafting through the air, mixed with the aroma of the flower he had on his hand.
"Truly, a gracious day!"
"It's not long until sundown, so hurry up!"
"Once again, men! Everything has to be perfect!"
"When you put the crown on his head, quickly bow and leave the stage!"
"The empire shall enter a grand new age when prince Gideon becomes emperor."
Thomas walked through the hallway, nodding at those who greeted him.
Reaching the door at the end, he opened it and saw his eldest brother tidying himself in front of the mirror and talking with his fellow comrade.
"...that's the first thing you're going to do when you become emperor?"
"Yep. You got my back right, Sol?"
"...I am sworn always to be by your side."
"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Gideon chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't get yourself killed. General Tolf's gonna have my hide on top of his fireplace if anything were to happen to you."
Meeting Thomas' eyes through the mirror, Gideon turned around and beckoned him over.
After ruffling his little brother's hair, he was presented with a flower almost whiter than his garment.
"For me?"
Seeing his nod, the crown prince took it and put it in his breast pocket.
"Suits me a lot, right Sol?"
The young knight nodded with a smile.
Gideon's thanks were enough to make his entire week.
A sharp bang sounded behind him. Turning around, Thomas saw his other brother Henry excitedly running towards their way.
"I can't believe this is the day!"
Henry tackled Gideon, knocking the wind out of him.
"Oof. Easy, kid. Don't ruin the coat, I just finished dressing up."
Ignoring him, Henry exclaimed, "I can't believe it! I thought I'd get to be the emperor. Lord Father should've gotten his eyes checked before he picked which of us is going to be it!"
Gideon laughed. "Why are you calling dad Lord Father?"
"Because," Henry huffed, "he's always on that throne of his going 'Thou shalt not this and that' and all that jazz. When you take over, make sure you get a new cushion for the throne. Who knows how many times he's farted there."
No one could really refute it, especially not Sol whose shoulders shook slightly.
"Will do."
Gideon also ruffled his hair before pulling him and Thomas into a big hug.
"I'm not gonna lie. I'll probably be as busy as dad from now on, but when I get some free time, I'm going to make sure I spend it with the two of you first."
It was one of his most cherished moments—
"Henry. How many times have I told you not to run in the castle?"
—before everything went downhill.
A brunette in lavish clothing walked in.
"But mom—"
"A celebration is no excuse. Especially when they've just finished mopping the floor."
"Ah, Stella, it's good to see you. Looking great!"
Stella curtsied. "Many thanks, crown prince."
Sol bowed and greeted, "This one greets the imperial mistress, Lady Stella of house Elden."
"Come on, now. None of that formal nonsense behind the door," complained Gideon.
Stella walked steadily towards the princes, her hands behind her back.
It should've been obvious from the get go.
"Child, why don't you go get Lizzie?"
Henry sighed. "Aww, alright. But I'll be back as soon as possible!"
Henry ran-- err, walked briskly out of the room.
"Close the door on your way out."
And closed the door.
He didn't know why he didn't see it coming.
"To think that he chose you to be emperor. They were right. I shouldn't have believed in him then."
"Oh. Umm, okay?" Gideon let out an awkward cough.
As she reached them, Gideon asked, "So, can I help you with anything?"
If only he were strong enough.
She smiled charmingly. "Yes."
Gedion returned it with a brighter one. "What can I help you with?"
She paused, before mouthing, "Can you die for me?"
"Huh?"
If only... he could turn back time.
Before anyone realized, Gideon's heart was pierced through.
Not a second later, the same was almost done to Thomas, only this time she missed, piercing his shoulder instead. Sol had just pulled him away in time.
Pulling him far back to a wall, Sol screamed, "W-What are you doing!?"
Thomas was stunned silent. It was too much of a shock for him. He couldn't even feel it until he found himself drenched in red.
As he started to lose to the pain, he stared at the unblinking eyes of his eldest brother. His eyes, which were shining brightly just a moment ago, were now painted in shock and pain that lasted until his last breath.
He remembered those eyes so clearly even to this day. It was as if he'd just seen them.
As he collapsed against the wall, he saw Sol's wide back. He was facing Stella in a losing battle.
Stella's weapon, which appeared to be a big metal feather with patterns that appeared to be heated up, had its spine elongated, making it look like a big arrow that she wielded like a spear.
Another person burst into the room. Her golden hair looked so vibrant it almost shone, and her blue eyes glared icily towards the brunette.
Elizabeth Slate surged towards Stella with a rapier in hand.
Taking his chance, Sol hugged the woman still.
A gasp turned howl came from outside.
"NO! NOOOOOOOOOO! MOOOOM!"
As she did to Gideon, so did Elizabeth to her.
"You're too late… Lizzie," Stella mocked weakly.
"Long… live… the Mortuary."
Stella's body erupted in flames, surprising Sol as he let her go.
When the fire stopped, all that remained was nothing but ash.
Dropping her rapier, Elizabeth rushed to Thomas.
He didn't remember anything after that. He just felt so sleepy.
Rimuru was taken out of his thoughts when he examined the corridor.
"This... might be bad."
"What do you mean?"
The Blade, who had been explaining to the lord about the current matter with the Goa siblings, turned his head and asked.
"From my experience, soul corridors didn't take this long to form. So, I observed their souls and found the problem."
"W-What is it? Will they be alright?"
"Your daughter seems to have forcibly tried to form one. From what I heard, forceful formings have a chance to fail. I don't know about the consequences a failure might bring, but I do know that if something bad happens to a soul corridor, it can lead to devastating results."
Rodrick wiped a sweat on his head. "I'm afraid to ask, but what kind of results?"
Rimuru responded by lifting the side of his own shirt. "This."
"My word!"
Rodrick was someone who could be called 'old fashioned.' Seeing the bluenette act so brazenly sent a jolt through his spine. But when he realized he needed to look, to understand more about his daughter's circumstances, he turned his head back.
What he saw were three nasty scars on Rimuru's waist, going from the front and disappearing to the back. It looked as if a beast with sharp, giant claws tore through the bluenette's waist.
When he was experimenting on souls, Rimuru discovered that a damaged soul affected the physical body of a person. Some looked like markings similar to birth marks, some looked like burns, and some looked like scars, depending on what type of damage was caused to the soul.
He named these markings soul-scars or soul-gashes.
Normally, soul-scars would disappear when the soul was healed or reformed.
Not his, though.
It seemed that the damage done to the soul during a corridor's tearing would leave a permanent mark.
In every form he had transformed into, even his slime form, veldora's scar never left.
He was unsure as to why this was so, and Ciel had worried so long about it.
But after several millennia, he and Ciel had yet to find any other noticeable changes done to him. He shelved it off as plain good fortune that nothing really bad happened to both him and Veldora.
He considered reforming the corridor with Veldora, figuring it might help erase the mark, but Ciel adamantly refused. When he actually forcibly ordered her to, something he rarely did to anyone, especially not Ciel, to his surprise he was still refused.
Ciel had never refused a clear order from him before, always putting his demands above anything else.
But she had said that she put his safety above even that.
She deemed Veldora a threat—someone who she wouldn't risk her master with. She admitted the only reason she hasn't eliminated Veldora was solely because Rimuru cared deeply about him. She even said she would actively hunt Veldora down should Rimuru not care about him anymore.
That had made Rimuru uneasy. He ordered her not to do that even if somehow he were to stop caring about his brother.
Ciel just stayed silent.
...damn. He really needed to stop wandering off in his head. Good thing that thought acceleration passively activated every time he did that.
"This is a soul-scar. It's what happens when the soul gets damaged."
Rimuru then rolled up his sleeve. "I can move it wherever I want in my body, but I can't make it disappear," he said as the soul-scar appeared on his arm and disappeared from his waist.
An audible gulp was heard from the noble.
"I was lucky enough to live through this, but most of the time wounds like this would be deadly for a soul that couldn't withstand it."
He tidied his clothing. "If that happened, not only would the person die, their soul would be lost for eternity, unable to pass on."
"So, what can we do?" asked the Blade, his face grim.
"I can help by letting myself in. Though, I'll be in a similar state with the kids until then. You won't do anything weird to me when I'm out, right?" Rimuru flashed a knowing smile.
The Blade ignored it, Rodrick sputtered, and Volgoa paled.
Victoria smacked her brother's head. "I'm watching you."
Volgoa responded with, "Believe me, I wouldn't dare to even come close."
Of course, even if he were unconscious, none of the people in this room would be able to do anything to him, whether it would be because of his overpowered passives or Ciel herself.
Rimuru nodded and said, "Well, then. I'll see you guys when I come back."
He turned around and put a finger on Felicia's head.
(A/N: Shorter chapter today. Half of this was supposed to be part of the last chapter, but I think it suited better in this one. This chapter also has other parts coming up.)
(to Anton Fire: Oh. Sorry, but believe me, I meant nothing bad.)
(to jtjtechforce: I rember)
(to SwhoPG: Enjoy!)
