French Roast
Lord of Altera
- Pronouns
- She/Her
French_Roast
Finally, the Duchess speaks.
I was curious when you would stop hiding behind Brenny in your warm sparkly manor, and address the world yourself.
You mistake me for a man who cares about the importance of one's family name. I care not that my name is less known than yours, if anything I prefer it that way. We in Stoltfar are quite happy with our general lack of visitors. I care not for feeling important, I only care for the safety of my own people and allies. Likewise, I care not if you have made the name of Kane known throughout the lands. It means little when you whored out that name to a now-dead empire to do so. A woman who values her legacy more than the actual family who gave her opportunity, is among the lowliest of people. If one of your own children, somewhere down the line, thought that by betraying you, they too could gain more prestige to their name, would they do it?
Are they learning from your example, Alison?
The difference between you and me, Alison Kane, is that I was not born with a noble name with wealth behind it, to marry off to whatever important person would take it. I did not gain what I have, little as it may be in comparison to yourself, by sleeping with the right people. I won what I have with the sweat and blood of me and my own people and allies, who remain loyal to me not because of my name, but because they know that I would lay down my own life in their defense.
Can your people say the same of you, or dear Brenny?
You forget that the fight that you claim I backed down from is a fight that you yourself backed down from. It wasn't without good reason, I will admit. Nobody wants to waste their breath hunting down living enemies, when the Undead are overwhelming the continent. When we first heard that your forces were marching on Blackmount, Lord Alistair came to me and told me I was released from my oath, telling me that I did not have to die alongside him. I refused him. Make no mistake, Alison, the Undead could have surrounded us in a sea of rotting flesh, tearing at people on all sides, and still I would have stood to keep Lord Alistair alive. With my dying breath, I would have fought.
After your mother died, before I knew what you would do in the wake of such a tragedy,
I approached you in the Crossroads and gave you my sympathies. I told you that I would help you however I could. I offered you all that I could offer at the time, and you ignored it of your own choosing. Do not presume to claim that I sat back and watched, as you turned your back on your own father, rather than seeking to make amends and grieve alongside him, if in fact you grieved at all, since you were so keen on immediately seizing what was left of hers, as well as Lord Alistair's. It is your own mistake that you judge a man's worth or strength by his name alone.
I do not make you a villain, Alison. You make one of yourself.
You are the coward who sits upon a throne of lies and twisted words,
using them to manipulate and shroud the truth in your favor.
You are the craven who believes in nothing but your own wealth and power,
and cares not about the people who would lay down their lives for you.
You are weak. And you are nothing.
Elz Mitch The Living Ghost (BrianAT16 for the memory)
