Novel Full Chapter 443: It Has To Be Me
***
{Outside The Projection}
That was…
They didn’t know what that was.
Never did they expect to see Azeem like that.
Somehow, they thought that even then, he took it in stride, but…
No, no, no, how wrong they were.
The parts that hit hardest were small details.
How Azeem’s face folded when he lifted ‘Badroulbadour,’ who was no longer worthy of being remembered as Yueh Hua in Malik’s memory, the shock in his pitiful eyes, his breaking voice, his repeating words, his stumble, and the door slamming as he fled.
Those little things gutted them.
Loyalty felt fragile in that light.
Azeem’s breakdown was intimate, too private for public watching, and that made people squirm. Seeing his grief turned their stomachs; they could feel the betrayal in it, a damned snake beneath the skin.
At first, voices started up in clusters.
“He really killed her.”
“But why would he—”
“Was she Corrupted?”
A few already rushed to defend Malik.
Yet, they didn’t need to, for the truth revealed itself a second later.
Yeah… a ‘second;’ it had all happened too fast, way too fast.
Even before the tragedy, after the “yes,” nothing was there.
As if the ‘in-between’ was erased, too inconsequential.
Or perhaps too filthy to remember.
Yet for those who knew the in-between.
More specifically, Azeem himself…
He understood it perfectly.
Malik never once showed interest in any of his fiancées.
In all his years under the Sultan, never once did he ask about any of them.
It was because of this.
He always knew them as betrayers.
With them, he’d let go, allowed Azeem to be happy…
But then, that day, she’d probably done something horrible.
Perhaps made a deal with that man, a deal that would harm Azeem.
Malik felt something; his indifference likely cracked, and he ended their lives.
So when Azeem asked him for the reason, he never gave any.
Not only because he wanted to be misunderstood…
But also because he didn’t want to hurt one of his most loyal subjects.
He couldn’t bear to harm his Right Hand Man, continuing his act of the fool.
Azeem, however, could also see that in itself as a betrayal.
And all his doubts that he kept building up within finally leaked out all at once.
Because that was the day that changed everything, the day that led to him betraying Malik soon after.
A day he’d forever regret.
Did he still feel any sadness for his wife?
Of course he did; knowing that she betrayed him and likely had been with him since the beginning just to use his position didn’t change things, at least not as much as one would expect.
He still loved her, or at least the image he had of her, and that wouldn’t change.
So he’d mourn that image, even if it was shattered right in front of his eyes.
For once, seeing Azeem’s face, sympathy shifted toward him.
They saw how he loved the Badroulbadour.
The idea of her.
He had trusted Malik as a mentor and shield.
Yet when the truth bowed under its own weight…
Everything broke into something extremely ugly.
A day to mourn despite the truth.
And he wasn’t the only one to mourn, though the others did for different reasons.
Sinbad and Dunya had done so, knowing that such a scene wasn’t necessary.
They hated it, and they hated how it had all played out.
Huda’s fingers dug nails into Layla’s hand, terrified of the scene before her.
It felt like it had been so very long since she last saw him covered in blood.
She couldn’t imagine just what happened for Badroulbadour’s blood to have colored him so.
Layla wasn’t doing much better; only moments earlier, she was reminiscent, watching his memories go by in a flash, a so very cold time in a place filled with light.
But now she… she saw the end take form.
Without her or anyone else realizing it…
The tenth day was nearly upon them.
Soon, Malik would be no more.
***
{Inside The Projection}
The Sultan’s Hall felt too big for two people.
Its lamps and candles wasting away in a place so cold.
Malik sat on his Golden Throne while Sinbad hovered in front of him.
The owl’s pink eyes were still bright, showing the extent of his anger.
“Why?”
Sinbad repeated Azeem’s one question.
“Why do this to them? Why make him kneel in front of a corpse? It wasn’t necessary. Please. Explain the calculus of your cruelty to me.”
“…”
Malik gave no answer and simply kept still.
“Elder Brother. WHY?”
But Sinbad didn’t relent.
“Why do all this? When he, through his doubt, burning towns and burying men in numbered caves, still is a hopeful man… still trusts you? Without you revealing to him anything of note? Why? What image do you curate here—martyr, monster, miracle? It’s… dissonant.”
Malik inhaled, finally deciding to entertain his little owl.
“Why… why does anyone commit acts others deem unspeakable?”
The sound of it was the only thing for a long breath.
“For love.”
Sinbad clicked his beak, unimpressed by such poetic words.
“Love is not a get-out-of-conscience card. You cannot call yourself indifferent and claim to love a people. Those two are mutually exclusive. They cannot inhabit a single chest and behave properly.”
Malik let the words fall before speaking:
“Haven’t you heard? I’m a hypocrite. Love and indifference—two sides of the same coin. I can flip them any time… You see, that which usually inspires my… our greatest good is often the cause of our greatest evil.”
Sinbad’s feathers trembled a fraction.
“Stop this. If you love me, Elder Brother, you will tell me plainly.”
He peered at Malik with both patience and irritation.
“Don’t hand me poetry and expect me to patch the gashes in Azeem’s chest. Tell me truthfully: why ostracize someone who would follow you without question? There was no need for this. He could’ve pretended to betray us; he’s capable of that. Like our Shurtat al-Khamis. Besides, the coalition isn’t particularly in need of Azeem. Yes, he’d be the only one to stay until the end, but we can force someone else to feed them this information and just send them out there! We don’t need to break his heart even more than it already is.”
There was a beat that the whole palace would’ve heard.
“Because…”
Though such a beat only lifted Malik’s chin a hair.
“It has to be me.”
Those words held the entire hall.
A true answer amongst the white lies.