Afterword - Book 2 - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Chapter 21: The Face of Vengeance II

(Original Chapter Title: N/A)

Ranthia may be Mirror-aspected, but looking at a reflection of what she almost became (well, okay, a rather extreme version of it) had a profound effect on her.

Enough that she saw a fleeting image of herself as the woman consigned herself to the flames.

It probably speaks ill of my own past and mental state that writing 'broken' characters comes so naturally to me. But writing this maid was easy—I just had to take a break after to reset my mental state. Emotions from characters can hit me hard as I write, since I'm channeling them so intimately. Honestly, I don't get how writers that do nonstop drama can take it without losing their minds!

To touch on what I mentioned in the last afterword, instead of Ranthia indulging in revenge, I decided to give her a look at just how ugly revenge could be. How easily a bit of hate can break morality and enable the unthinkable. I gave her an opportunity to reassess herself.

And no, I had zero plans for Ranthia to let some kid tag along, but Ranthia pulled another Ranthia on me.

At least she seems to have saved the Ranger from himself, so there's a glimmer of good beneath this chapter. It's funny how watching someone yeet themself out a window right before a burning building collapses can make you rethink your eagerness to chase recklessness. That or she had already talked him down before he witnessed her near-incident.

Honestly, she probably could have survived the burning building collapsing on her—assuming she managed to claw herself out before she ran out of air. Either way, deeply unpleasant at best.

But what's done is done, and now she's looking forward to a nice trip across the Nostrum aboard a vessel that she'd have rather avoided. ...And she's made a rather unfortunate promise. Wonder how that'll go.