trea·son
/ˈtrēzən/
noun.

》the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government《

》sometimes a crime of greed, lust for power, and by a tyrant. other times its what's necessary for selfless love to flourish across the lands《

♢

"How are you feeling, My Lady?" Ethan asked, clearly very concerned as you slid off Milaana gracefully to the ground. Ever since Dr. McLoughlin had given you the news, Ethan had been overly concerned about yours and the baby's safety.

"Ethan, I'm fine." You squeezed his arm briefly before letting go, the two of you still had to keep up appearances in front of the rest of the castle's residents.

Nobody could know about the relationship, your pregnancy, or your planning to depose the King and get Ethan on the throne. All of that in five days.

You walked up the path to the castle, and decided that you wanted to stop in the gardens for a moment. Ethan walked a polite distance to the side and slightly behind you as you surveyed the flowers. Most were barren or on the decline as fall started to settle in, but there was still one little bud blooming.

You kneeled down to observe the pale blue petals that the flower had. They reminded you of Ethan's beautiful eyes whenever he wore light colors, and you looked over your shoulder to look at him. He was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, and looking around as if he was a bodyguard and not a servant. Your heart leapt in your chest when the sunlight hit him just right and he was illuminated so beautifully you could imagine that one of God's angels was standing there, watching over you.

Ethan seemed to notice you, and brought his eyes back to look at you, and you both blushed as you made eye contact. This was what your relationship had been reduced to, blushing looks and the occasional order from a princess to her servant. Nothing more.

You stood up, brushing off your knees, but a wave of nausea brought you back down. Biting your lip, you tried to ground yourself again, and you felt a precense at your side. You were expecting Ethan's concerned voice to be in your ear, but instead it was one that you wished to never hear again.

"Y/N, my dear, are you alright?" The Queen of Gizmonia asked you, helping you up to your feet.

Your vision was spinning and you couldn't answer as the Queen barked out orders. "Leopold, take your fiancee inside. You, I will have a talk with you about your negligence in caring for the royalty placed in your charge!"

You managed to see Elena pointing a finger menacingly at Ethan as she screeched out the last sentance. Leopold appeared under your shoulder, and tried to aid you with as little physical contact to you as possible, probably remembering your last real conversation with him, in the hallway outside the infirmary.

Your mouth opened to try to croak out a sorry to Ethan, but another wave of nausea rocketed up, so you had to close it and let Leo guide you inside. The world became more clear and focused as you made your way through the castle with the Young Prince, and soon you could find your footing again as the cool air of the castle corridors brushed against your skin.

"I'm taking you to the physician." Leo muttered, and you looked down at him with an appreciative smile.

"Thank you, Leo." You pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, and he rolled his eyes, but had his own smile on his face.

It looked like your previous good rapport had been reestablished. He was just like your little brother, something you needed now more than ever, since your own younger sibling was gone. As this thought crept into your mind again, you realized you hadn't even had any correspondance with your parents on the matter. Not a single letter from them. They must be devastated.

As the tears blurred your vision again, you felt another pair of arm take your from Leo and lead you over to a bed. It mut be the doctor. "Y/N, you're just exhausted, okay? It'll be okay."

By it you knew he meant the baby, but you were the only ones in the room who knew about your pregnancy. You appreciated his assurances as he pressed a cool washcloth to your forehead and laid you back on the cot.

"Rest, drink some water." Sean said before quickly leaving the room.

You were curious as to why he was in such a rush to go back into the back room, but Robin brought you a glass of water and helped you sit up to drink it.

"Could you bring me parchment and a quill? I need to write to my parents." You requested of Robin, and the assistant shifted uneasily.

"I'm sorry, My Lady, but the King and Queen have cut off all transpondance coming in or out of the castle except for theirs." He explained, then gestured ot the room his friend has disappeared into. "The doctor has been very agitated about it, he hasn't been able to write to them."

You understood that he was referencing the possible lover Sean had somewhere in the lands of Tubon, the greater country all of the kingdoms were apart of. Now you were even more concerned, why weren't you allowed to send or recieve letters from your parents or anyone else? You were sure that Amy was trying to reach you, she had promised to write everyday, and lately you both had been keeping that promise. And your parents, after Rachels' death, they had to have tried to comfort you and send their love. Why weren't you allowed to talk to them? They were your own flesh and blood.

Anger surged through your body, and all the exhaustion and sadness from before washed away. "How dare they?" You seethed, standing up and ready to march right down the the Queen Bitch's room and give her a piece of your mind.

"Woah, My Lady, please." Robin blocked you from the doorway, holding up his hands to try to stop you. "The doctor ordered bedrest for you until you feel better."

"I feel fine."

"Please, I don't think whatever you're about to do is going to be a wise decision."

"Robin." You said sternly.

"Princess Y/N." He replied back with the same tone, standing his ground.

With a disgruntled groan, you plopped yourself back down on the cot you had just left. Robin left the doorway with a relieved sigh, and went to go check on his friend in the back room. You heard a brief but intense argument between them, and awkwardly twiddled your thumbs from where you sat. Your anger from before subsided, and you cursed the mood swings that had been plaguing you, you almost gave up your obedient princess act.

The door into the infirmary creaked open, and your head snapped up, you were fully expecting it to be Ethan checking in on you. But a salt and peppered beard accompanied by the worn yet still kind features of the King appeared.

"My Lord," you were about to stand to curtsy, but he waved off your cordialness.

"You need to rest, Princess Y/N." He insisted, sitting on the edge of the bed across from you.

You noticed him wince and clutch his hips as he lowered himself down onto the cot. He was getting old, there was no denying that. And early retirement would be good for him.

"I heard that you collapsed whilst in the care of your butler."

"I didn't collapse," You insisted, trying to keep your emotions in check. "And My Lord, it wasn't Ethan's fault, it was my own stubborness that caused my exhaustion."

The King's eyes looked over you thoughtfully, as if he waas mentally dissecting your answer. You shifted uncomfortably in your current sitting position, and tried to change the subject, "Pardon me, I forgot to ask, how was your diplomacy trip to Pewd-"

"Princess Y/N, I'm a deeply troubled man." The King interrupted, and you were cut jarringly off guard.

"My Lord?"

"I... have many bastard children, most of my 'diplomacy trips' are to hostels where I find many women who give me what my wife doesn't. Truth be told, I only married Elena to not appear as such a weak King, but what's the point of seeming  to be a strong King if you go from being a father of three to a father of two? I may as well be a father of one at this point, having sent away my only daughter, my beautiful Amy." The king set his crown down on the bed beside him, and with that weight off him, he only appeared to you as a tired elderly man.

You were elated when you realized that you could offer relief from all of this, Ethan being on the throne would alleviate much of his stress and worries. When you opened your mouth again to try to test the waters before suggesting it to him, he looked up at you with inquisitive hazel eyes. There was no doubt in your mind that this was Ethan's dad. They were much too similar.

He seemed to take your unplanned hesitation as a sign for him to continue, so he took a deep breath. "Princess Y/N, there have been rumors. Please, don't try to deny it. I've told you my secrets, enlighten me to yours."

"What do these rumors pertain to? I've already heard quite a few ridiculous ones." You snorted, hoping you weren't coming off as shaken as you were feeling. "For example, I've heard that I'm having an affair with Dr. McLoughlin."

"Ah no, I'm aware of that rumor being false, I have some knowledge of the letters he sends every night."

"So he is writing to a distant lover?"

"Princess Y/N, I'm referencing the chatters amongst the servants about my son sneaking into your room in the night, and the... strange noises heard afterwards."

You let your eyes widen as you stared in shock at the King, hoping he would interpret your astonishment as disbelief that you had been accused of this, and not that he had figured it out. "Sir, I can assure you that Leopold has not snuck into my room at night, and that there were no such sounds coming from my chambers-"

"We both know we are not talking about Leopold!" The King snapped at you, clearly getting aggravated with your responses.

Chewing on your lip, you tried to formulate some sort of response to his completely true accusations. Clearly understanding what your lack of a reply meant, the King of Gizmonia shook his head and attempted to stand back up.

"I hope you know," he stopped to groan and curse his knees, swatting away your helping hands. Once he was upright, he continued his sentence, "What you are doing to your family, Princess Y/N."

"What family?" You spat back at him, nearly quivering with anger. "You have cut off my communication with my parents and my sister is dead."

The man with you shook his head and left the room without another word to you. "Is he gone?" A loud whisper of a familiar Septican came through the cracked door the the back room.

"Yes, Sean." A small glimmer of a smile crossed your lips at your friend's antics, but you immediately focused back on the task at hand.

From that interaction, you were able to garner the fact that suggesting early retirement to the King was out of the question. Even with his own faults, he still vaguely threatened your family and spoke condescendingly of you. So now you had to find Ethan.

"I'm feeling much better, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue my day." You nodded cordially to the physicians, and you were grateful when neither tried to stop you.

♢

"Ethan!" A startled cry came from your mouth when you entered your bedroom to find the brunette man sprawled on one of the armchairs in front of your fireplace. You rushed forward to his side to check to see if he was alright, when his eyes opened and he looked very confused at you.

"Woah, Y/N, my love, I'm okay." He laughed breathily at your concern, sitting up in the chair and rubbing his eyes. "I just fell asleep waiting for you."

"I thought she had you abused again." You murmured, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt in your hands as you nearly sobbed into his chest. "I thought she had finally, killed y-"

Ethan cut you off, rubbing soothing circles across your back with his hands, "No need to get yourself so worked up, my love."

"You're right. We need to plan." With a sniffle, you gained your composure and went over to your bed, where you still had the rulebook hidden under your pillow.

♢

You awoke the next morning fully expecting Ethan to have disappeared, as he usually does early in the morning, to avoid suspicion. At this point, you realized it didn't seem to make any difference, every resident of the castle knew or at least suspected at this point. But what were the King and Queen going to do about it? Ethan had already been nearly beat to death, the only thing they could do was to kill him. You hoped it wouldn't come to that.

But to your surprise, it was still dark outside, the faint light of the twinkling stars shone through your window. You realized you had woken up to a hand rubbing against your stomach and someone whispering words to your abdomen.

Staying still, you heard the gravelly morning voice of Ethan speaking soft words against your skin. "You're not going to live like I did, okay? You're going to know only happiness, and I will never leave you and your mother, not even for Heaven."

You were nearly tearing up as Ethan continued speaking to your unborn child, "Speaking of your mother, you are blessed with the most loving, intellectual, stunning, and perfect mother to carry and raise you. I promise I will figure this out, for you, and for her. As long as I live, I will make sure you two stay together. Even if it's through my death."

At these words, you were unable to contain the gentle weeping that was already threatening to escape your throat. "Ethan." You choked out, reaching your hand out for him.

"I'm sorry, my love, did I wake you up?" He apologized, clutching your hand comfortingly and kissing your knuckles gently.

"I love you, so much."

"I love both of you, so much." Ethan propped himself up onto his elbows to kiss you, then your stomach, then you again.

You pulled his face back down to yours again, pressing your lips passionately against his. "Never leave us, not even for Heaven, or death. Understand?"

"I understand, Y/N."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now please, go back to sleep."

"Sing me to sleep."

Ethan began humming, and you pulled his arms around you as you laid back down. You laced your fingers through his as the melody that fell from his lips continued filling the space around you.

♢

"My Lady! My Lady! My Lady Y/N!" The frantic voice of Maryana woke you up, as well as the shaking of your shoulders.

You shot up, shaking off her hands and she stepped back apologetically. Outside you could see the fiery orange sunrise, not normally when you were woken. "Maryana, what's wrong?"

"Ethan is being placed on trial!"

"For what?"

"I-I wasn't told."

Stumbling out of bed with the sheets still wrapped around your legs, you threw yourself towards your wardrobe to get changed. You threw on some random clothes and turned back to Maryana with wild eyes. "Show me where they're holding him before his trial."

"They aren't waiting, it's happening right now in the throne room." She informed you quietly, and you dashed back to your bed to grab the rulebook. You had to try to present your case.

But when you reached under it, no book met your grip, and you threw your pillows and blankets all around in your search for the book. It was nowhere to be found. They had gotten to it, and now there was no evidence to exonerate Ethan. But you still had to try.

"I have to be there." You insisted, marching towards the doors leading out of your bedroom.

When you threw them open, two armed guards were standing on either side of the door, and they turned to you, crossing their lances in front of you. "I'm sorry, My Lady, we were ordered not to let you out of your chambers." One spoke gruffly, and you breathed deeply to contain your boiling blood.

You nodded, closing your doors again and walking over to your dresser. In the top drawer was where you had stashed your daggers you took back from your visit home, but they too, were missing. With an indignant screech in your throat, you threw open the metal gates of your fireplace and stuck your hand up the chimney.

Thankfully, you found that the backup box was right where you had left it. Pulling it down, you set the small wooden box onto your vanity, and unlatched it to reveal the two glistening daggers inside. The ones that used to belong to the First Queen of Gizmonia, which Ethan had gifted to you. This would be poetic.

Maryana watched all of this with a concerned look across her features. "My Lady, I recommend you just wait here and-"

"Maryana, are you going to try to stop me?" You gripped the daggers in your hands tightly, and she eyed them nervously.

"Of course not."

"Then shut up."

Stomping over to the door, you knocked on it firmly and waited for the guards to respond. One of them grumbled something through the door, but you gave him no response, hoping he would open the door to check on you. And he did, causing you to hide behind the opening door. The guard was clearly confused that he could only see Maryana, who was quite far away from the door. You crept up behind him after he closed the door, slamming the hilt of your dagger against his head. He let out a noise of surprise before crumpling ot the ground unconsious.

The servant girl was looking at you wide-eyed clearly wondering if you had killed him or not. You shook your head to assure her as the other guard asked thorugh the door if his buddy was okay. After eliciting no reply, he opened the door as well, and you found that he was much too tall for you to immediatley knock him out. So you kicked out the back of his knees, sending him to his knees before you gave his head the same treatment as his friend's.

You were glad these idiots hadn't been the ones trying to protect you from those bandits a while ago, you mused as you stepped over their bodies. At the doorway, you gestured for Maryana to follow you, and she reluctantly did so.

"Go to your quarters, you don't want to be a part of this." You ordered her, completely unsure of what would happen next.

She nodded, scurrying down the hall in the opposite direction of where you needed to go to get to the throne room. You moved through the halls quickly, noting that the rock was even colder so early in the morning on an autumn day against your bare feet. You weren't exactly concerned about footwear when you were rushing to get dressed.

The halls were devoid of servants, or of seemingly any life. It was dead quiet but soft voices met your ears as you got closer to the throne room. You weren't sure if they were real or your imagination. In the corridor outside it, your prepared yourself for different scenarios. Hopefully you wouldn't have to fight many people, you were still dead tired from being woken up twice. But if you and Ethan managed to fight your way out, you would still be together. You realized that the worst case scenario would him being executed right in front of you, and having to live the rest of your life truly alone.

The doors swung open before you had made up your mind as to what to do, and several guards surrounded you, each fully armored and undeterred at your resisting. They carried you in, and you stopped flailing to get a view of your surroundings. The throne room was eerily lit by torches along the walls, and sitting on the thrones at the front was the King, Queen and Young Prince Leopold. Leo cast you an apologetic look, but was obviously more afraid of gaining his mother's attention and shifted his gaze back down to his feet. On a wooden chair below them was the hunched figure of Ethan, looking fearfully at you. He shook his head, silently urging you to leave, but you were petrified to the spot.

The throne you imagined that was Amy's previously was empty, and you could only think that the reason they kept it around was for you to eventually sit on after the marriage.

"My dear Y/N!" The Queen clapped her hands ecstatically. "I'm so glad you could join us! This is the perfect opportuinty for you to see how Gizmonian courts work. Come, come, you can sit on your future throne. Get a feel of it."

She patted the golden throne to her right while her left hand was settled on top of the King's, and Leopold was sat on the other side of him. You were pushed up the steps towards the thrones by a metal-clad hand at the small of your back. The Queen seized your wrist and pulled you down onto the cold seat of the throne that was a tad bit smaller than her own.

There were no others in the room besides the guards, the royal family, you, and Ethan. No jury, judge, or representative for Ethan. This was no court, just a delayed execution sentance, you realized as you looked down at your love. You could do nothing, you were frozen and useless.

"Now, Ethan Mark Nestor," the King spoke, and you realized this was the first time you were hearing Ethan's full name. It was beautiful, and suited him so well, but this wasn't the situation to dwell on how handsome this boy was as the ruler continued on. "You have been brought before the Gizmonian courts on several counts of treason and conspiring against the King. How do you plead?"

"Guilty." Ethan said clearly, looking at the King and Queen with fierce determination. Why was he doing this?

"Which treasonous acts have you committed agains the fair kingdom of Gizmonia?"

"I was negligent with royalty placed in my care, did not respect the boundaries of my servitude, conspired against the throne, and spoke ill of the members of the royal family."

You shook your head as Ethan confessed to these things, they weren't any sort of treason, or held any semblance of truth. Tears filled your eyes at how determined he seemed to get himself executed.

"And with whom did you conspire against the king of Gizmonia?" The King asked, and you could feel every eye on you.

This was it, the moment when everything would come out. You could come clean, and accept whatever punishment they would send your way. Ethan would admit to conspiring with you, and both of you would be thrown in jail, exiled, or even killed. You didn't care, it would be with him, so you knew everything would be okay.

Ethan took a few shaky breaths, trying to gain his confidence as he looked up at the people on the thrones with such an intensity you'd never seen in him before. You gave him an assuring nod, telling him that it was okay to implicate you as well, you'd accepted it. You were ready for this all to be over.

His voice rang out clearly, and your stomach dropped at his next words. "I did it alone."