Genshin Impact: Frostburn

What do I say? Should I try to get an excuse? Leo thought as he walked through the corridors of Zapolyarny palace. He was summoned after the word got out that he woke up.

Once again, he stood face to face with the massive doors of the castle's courtroom. Its rough surface and cold feel still reflected majesty and dominance.

Upon seeing Leo approach, the two towering guards didn't waste any time and opened the door. With a creaking sound, the doors opened, and inside were the rest of the Harbingers eagerly waiting for his arrival. 

On the throne where the Tsaritsa stood, her expression was unchanging, and no emotion could be seen. The Harbingers looked at him with mixed reactions. Some showed open disgust, some wore an amused look, and some didn't seem as interested as the others.

His chest started to thump loudly as he entered the room. He tried to reign in his nervousness, but his expression painted clear unease as he knelt in front of the Tsaritsa.

"I greet Her Majesty, The Tsaritsa!"

The Tsaritsa looked at him, her eyes seemed to radiate coldly. "You may sit."

He sat on the chair closest to the door and a table made of ice manifested in front of them.

"Do you understand why you called upon today, Leo?" 

"Yes Your Majesty, I do."

"Then speak, why did you do such a thing? And why did you break my word?"

He thought for a while. The events that happened and the reason he could give before answering.

"I did it because I thought it was for the best, and I used my power because I had no choice, If I didn't use it, Perure and Clervie would have died."

In the corner of the room, Pulcinella raised his voice and asked. "Why did you think it was for the best?! You instigated the poor children to commit matricide and burn down their homes, on what basis did you think this would be for the best?!"

Leo looked in his direction, his face was laced with pure hostility and regret, then his gaze shifted towards Dottere before going back to the Tsaritsa.

"On the basis that the children were being sold as experimental subjects and were treated as expendable livestock. Do you even know what Crucabena has been doing? She made them kill each other until there's only one person left." Pulcinella's face distorted as stammers. "Now, if you think that this is not a better outcome for them then I don't know what is."

The room grew silent, all eyes fixated on Leo. Yet a few glanced at Dottore, knowing who he was referring to.

No one uttered a word as they waited for someone to speak, but none dared to refute his argument as they knew it was the truth. 

"Your Majesty, If I may," Pantalone said as he raised his hand.

With a gesture of approval from the Tsaritsa, he pulled out a few documents from under the table and gave them to each and every one of them.

"This is the record of the house's expenditures and their recent missions paired with their meetings with outside forces."

As they flipped through the pages, their expressions distorted in confusion. Inside the document were the unusual rate of failures and the extravagant spending of mora.

"I fail to understand what you want to achieve by showing this to us, Regrator." Signora said as she continued to flip through the pages.

"Continue reading until you reach the last page."

As they continued to read, their confusion turned into shock as their eyes widened. In the documents laid the unusual coincidense of failing their missions and then the Gardes arriving and taking everything.

"Are you saying that they're coluding with the Gardes?" Pantalone asked as he put down the papers.

"It is as you say, This is enough evidense that this is what they're doing no? If hapenned more than once of twice already, I don't think its mere coincidense that all of this aligned."

"This is indeed suspicious." Pulcinella remarked as he finished reading.

Leo watched as he read through the pages. When did dad do all this? There's no way he didn't had a hand on this. He looked at Pantalone in surprice. His father's smile widened as their eyes met, then he reached for another batch of papers.

"But, that is not all," He gave them to everyone and their expressions distorted as they read the papers. "This is the result of my personal investigation, the amout of mora they needed from me lessened so I investigated the reason for the sudden boom of mora they had, and this is what I found."

In there, are contracts with invoices and the ledger that contains the history of human trafficking trades and the buyers they had.

A creaking sound could be heard on where capitano sat, the table where his arm rested cracked under pressure as his hands grew ice.

"A hundred and ten children..."

After glancing at Leo's direction and giving him a wry smile, Pantalone faced the Tsaritsa and bowed to her

"I believe this is enough evidence for my sons actions, Your Majesty."

The Tsaritsa froze the paper and crushed it on her hands. "Yes, one has seen tthe reason for your actions, you are forgiven for your act of rebellion and instigation."

Leo exhaled in relief, letting out thet tension on his muscles as his posture relaxed.

"But that doesn't warrant the truth that you used your power."

His straigthened once more and his mind were filled with panic. Fuck. Your Majesty can't you just let this go for once? Please?

Leo stood up and bowed down with his knees on the ground."I-I didn't want to lose my friends Your Majesty, I have no other excuse for using my power. Please punish me as you see fit"

He waited in gritted teeth and his eyes close for the Tsaritsa's puishment, but moments later no word came out from her and curiosity struck Leo as he raised his head.

What met his eyes were the smiling face of the Tsaritsa. He expected her to show disappointment, or even anger, yet right now, she looked amused and happy.

"You Majesty?"

The Tsaritsa raised from her throne and approached Leo. Her hands laid on his shoulders as she stood on his side. "Your punishment shall be a spar with Leon, and a whole week of menial labor."

Leo was stunned as he watched the Tsaritsa walked towards the door. Eh?

"That is all for today, you may all leave."