Summary: Pelleas, spoilers for Part III; how do you choose death so easily when you owe it to your kingdom to not let your position fall into contention?
I May Not Lead
He was a weak king, and he knew it.
He could complain about how it was Izuka's fault for being a spy and misleading him, but he had allowed Izuka to mislead and otherwise manipulate him.
He could complain about how was he supposed to know it was a blood pact? He had been raised as a peasant and there was no way he could have recognized anything so complicated. Besides, no one else who had seen it had recognized it as such. But he was supposed to be the king of Daein, and it was his duty to be alert to things such as a blood pact.
He had dithered and fretted about the blood pact, doing and saying nothing but what Begnion told him to, unable to even think of a way to prevent it. No, it had taken Micaiah to come up with a way out. It had taken Micaiah to come up with a plan, the strategy that they were following.
Micaiah. It always came back to the Priestess of Dawn. She felt friendship and respect for him, but he didn't deserve either of those. Sothe was right when he said that he and Micaiah should leave, but he had begged, and Micaiah had sided with him because he was king and because she loved Daein.
And now, now he had the answer, and all it needed was his own life. That was easy enough, he had now decided. He was a terrible king, weak-willed and indecisive, but his death would save his country. And next time, next time maybe they would choose the correct ruler, pick Micaiah, and she would lead their country to prosperity and greatness.
He was sad that he wouldn't get to see that golden age, but his country needed his death, and so that's what he would give.