Chapter XXVII: Diamond City Discord

October 31st, 1111. The Palace of LazuLight, Diamond City.

Emylia arrives at the Palace of LazuLight late that night and finds her husband alone in the Marbleroom, sitting on the velvet couch with a glass of wine in his hand staring at the ceiling above him. The few candles that have been alight in the room have been burnt to their wicks and there is an atmosphere of sadness that engulfs the room. He seems to take no notice of her, as she grabs more candles and puts the others out so she can actually see better.

Finally, when approaching him Pomerlane looks at her and says "Ah, it is you." His face is covered with an expression of pure dread and sadness, and he is totally unkempt in appearance. He hasn't shaven in weeks and doesn't appear to have bathed either for a while. He smells of alcohol and the musty odor of uncleanliness. In his eyes, you can see the pain he is feeling.

Emylia, however, is unmoved by her husband's appearance and sorrowful looks. Upon seeing him like this, she takes the glass of wine from his hand and smashes it on the floor before slapping him. "Is this any way for a King to behave when his peoples need him now more than ever!" she shouts at him "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Pomerlane rises to his feet slowly with some pain, arthritis starting to develop in his body. He says calmly "LiLi... Am I not allowed to feel the pain I am in right now from everything? All around me, I have been let down by others and you come unto me to blame me... Is that what a wife should do to her husband when he feels this way?"

Emylia is now furious. She walks away from him looking down at the ground with a scowl before saying "Is it? IS IT!?!" now she looks right at him and starts to approach him "You...vain miscreant...How dare you blame others for your own shortcomings in this war! You claim to be the only one who is pulling his own weight when instead of protecting his people and the people he swore to protect when he married an Empress, you are drinking yourself to death here alone. What a vile wretch you have become since I have last saw you!" Pointing her finger at him, she continues to lay in on him "In search of your own personal glory, you abandoned both our states to the wolves while you were off plundering useless lands in Drachin! Uppland and Ingria did not have to fall to Pomerania, yet you allowed it through your own vanity! But that's not even the worst part.. No... The worst part is that instead of leading your troops back to fight the invaders driven them out of my lands, you decided to set here and become little better than a typical drunkard I can find off the street! How dare you call yourself a Prince with these actions! You..."

Emylia suddenly stops as she finally notices that her husband's rage has been growing with every word she said. Pomerlane's once saddened express has turned to one of pure fury and angry.

He calmly asks, "What do you know about war?"

Emylia is speechless in fear and backs away slowly

"Answer the fucking question. What do YOU know about war!" he then slaps her across the face hard and she drops to the floor.

"That's what I thought, nothing." he starts to pace "You know absolutely nothing about war and what it is like. You think you can just sit there and be a general from your palace while I have to deal with the realities and horrors of it!"

Grabbing his cane Pomerlane continues "I watch men... Men who I consider friends get their limbs torn off in front on me. After every battle, I see hundreds if not thousands of good men torn to pieces. I have nightmares every... FUCKING... night about these things and that's not even it. I see my parents slaughtered in front of my eyes too while I can do absolutely nothing about it"

Emylia stands back up with tears in her eyes whimpering "P-P-Pom.." before he hits her with his cane and knocks her back to the ground. "I'm not done yet you fucking bitch!"

"You will never understand any of this. You don't know the fear that I feel when I imagine myself being killed on the field and leaving my children with no father... You don't understand how it feels that the rats who killed whole family are going to win at the end while you die in a ditch... That's why I am like this? Do you understand that I am not a perfect man... That I have emotions too... That I cannot be everywhere at once.... Imagine to yourself that you do everything in your power to win over the forces of pure evil and everyone along the way just lets you down. Yes, Everyone. Including you!"

He begins to walk to the exit slowly before looking back at his wife, who is sobbing on the ground, "I care about my people.. Our people more than you would ever know... I love you and my children more than I love myself... yet I am shown such scorn from my very own wife during my time of need." Turning his head towards the exit and with a great sigh of pain "I am sorry for hitting you, and the things I have may said... but I am not sorry for how I feel. Until you can understand properly the pain I feel, do not approach me."

Pomerlane exits the room. Emylia starts crying heavily about this whole thing and blames herself. This was the roughest hour of their marriage.