Deep breaths, Corvo, deep breaths, hissed the voice inside Corvo's head. He promptly ignored it. Night had long since set, just over the other side of the Wrenhaven. The Hound Pits was quiet. Everyone was asleep. Everyone except Corvo that is. He thought grimly to himself, What are you doing? Is this really what you want to do? To jump? To find the easy way out? Corvo didn't even know how to answer that. True, he had climbed all the way to the top of the tower. True, he was standing on the edge. True, he felt himself gravitate closer and closer to the 2-second shortcut back to the ground. He sighed. Rain pattered against his 'royal-rags' and his dark hair was slick with rain, face wet. Was he really going to do this? Escaping Coldridge like a ghost in the night? Killing the High Overseer? Just to end it all with a long walk down a short ledge. He was so close to doing it. The heel of his right boot barely managed to touch the edge and his left leg was ready to launch him forward, and down to his certain demise. If it wasn't the fall that kills him, the Hagfish in the Wrenhaven might. His heart pounded against his rib-cage, wanting to burst out into the night air, his stomach was tied in unwindable knots and his throat was as dry as an Overseer's prick. He took a deep breath through his mouth, shuddering as he did.
He thought about it one more time. What about Emily? What would she think of you right now? Weak, puny. A cur. Just wanting to kill himself for a short moment of reprieve. He started to choke on tears and soon enough, his broke down, body racking as he started to sit down. His lips trembled, eyes watered and soon, they unleashed a torrent of tears. He placed his face in his hands and sobbed. He cried and he cried and he whimpered and sobbed. He didn't want this. He wanted his old life back. He didn't want to be an assassin. Tears kept coming, kept rolling down his cheeks and dripping off his chin. Every part of his body racked with his horrible cries. He hoped no one would hear him, that no one would see him in his moment of weakness. He ran his hands through his wet hair, before smacking himself in the forehead, trying to stop the flow of tears that sprung to his face. He cursed himself, he cursed the Lord Regent, he cursed everything without so much as a second thought. Oh, what he would give, what he would suffer to get his old life, his real life back. To stand once again at the side of the Empress, to watch over the Empire... To take care of Emily. He swallowed hard. He glanced at the crossbow he kept by his side. Maybe, maybe he didn't have to jump. He could just, fire a bolt though the top of his mouth. It'd be quiet. No one would know. They would just think he had left. He immediately withdrew the thought. He wasn't killing himself, no matter what.
Tomorrow, he would return to Clavering. He would march straight to the Golden Cat, no matter what stands in his way and get dear Emily back. And with every fibre in his being, he swore that if anyone so much as touched a hair on her holy head... He took another deep breath. He wouldn't just stop at Emily though. No. He was going after all of them. All of the bastards who conspired against him and his Empress. He would hunt them down and kill all of those bastards. Every single one of them until there would be none left. And, he had a special treat in store for the man he saved for last. The Lord Regent, Hiram Burrows. He would suffer. He will suffer. Of that, have no doubt. Corvo looked down at the world below him and started the climb back down. He would need his strength. His brand of murder requires a rested mind and steady hands, as well as a sharp sword and a loaded pistol.