ravenswrath | (no subject)

He shoots the boy a dark look. "I'm no anarchist. The Emprire thrived under Empress Kaldwin. And it will do so again under Emily."

He tamps down on the white hot anger in his chest, but he rips apart a blade of grass a little too forcefully.

"Technically I think we're called révolutionnaires," he replies evenly, slipping into French without a thought. He's watching Corvo without fear or bravado, just a solid, quiet confidence. "If you're so loyal, how'd you end up in prison? Normally they're pretty lenient about their own, unless you fuck up really hard." But then, Corvo doesn't actually strike him as moneyed, either.

"I was framed for the murder of the Empress," he says, jaw tight. "She was killed, her daughter kidnapped, and I was held back by another marked by the Outsider. The man who found me was the man who orchestrated the whole plot."

"Aaaand fuck the gods," he mumbles, frowning in sincere concern at the story. "Marking you just to pleasure himself watching you kill his last favourite toy."

Tiff lifts her head to look at them both, and Richter absently pats her head, settling her immediately. "Were you her guard, then? The Empress."

He huffs. "I was the Lord Protector."

It's a point of pride, no matter how much he doesn't want to think about it.

He cocks his head slightly. "The Emperor's? I'm not awfully familiar with that title."

"Empress," he corrects. "I served as a soldier for a few years, then the Duke sent me as a diplomatic gift to the Emperor. I served him for a year before he named me Lord Protector to his daughter. She became Empress. I was her personal guard, her courier, her - well, it doesn't matter. I failed. She was killed."

Well there's definitely something between him and the Empress he's not saying, and Richter's not naive, exactly - but he won't push it yet, either.

"Did you kill him? The man who killed her."

"Yes. And every man who had a hand in it."

He leans back against the tree. "But the Loyalists betrayed me. They poisoned me, threw me to the Flooded District. Left me for dead. They wanted power for themselves. I saved Emily, but they wanted to use her. Havelock, their leader, was the only one alive. I went after him, saw him dangling little Emily out from the top of the lighthouse. I must have missed a guard, though, because I felt a pain, ended up back in the prison cell from Coldridge. Only it was the Barge."

Hence the reason he lost his goddamned mind.

Richter's quiet for a few seconds.

"I know what it's like," he says softly, his hand resting still on his dog, soothing the sleeping beast. "To bear witness to someone threatening to destroy the person you were meant to protect. To see them succeed."

It's subtle, but there's sobriety there, a respect and sincerity that comes with personal experience. With loss. "I'm sorry."

Corvo nods. It's a sign of appreciation, an unspoken moment of respect. But he's talked enough, his head filled with the sight of Jessamine in his arms, begging him.

And the note left in the Void that read YOU CANNOT SAVE HER.

Having Richter understand doesn't make him feel better, necessarily, but there's a sort of solidarity in it. One day, he'll ask him the story. One day, maybe when it will matter.

But until then, he's content to lapse into silence.