[Arthdal Chronicles] Fight for freedom

CHAPTER 49: Painful words.

Saya absent-mindedly walked beside Tanya as they walked back to the Great Shrine. With every step he took, he couldn't help but to consider the options laid in front of him: to stay by Tagon's side and fight against his brother or to join his brother's side to fight against Tagon and Taealha.

When the time will come, Tagon will abandon you, his brother had told him and maybe he was right. Maybe Tagon would abandon him but if he joined Eunseom, what guarantee did he have that Eunseom himself wouldn't abandon him as well? None. Thinking that their shared blood was an unbreakable link between them was a lie. They were brothers but they didn't know each other. Even if he wouldn't deny the curiosity he felt towards Eunseom, he couldn't say he cared for him and Eunseom probably felt the same way.

Even if he could consider bonding with his brother and maybe finding in him a kind of fraternal love, whatever it was supposed to mean, there were only two things he truly wanted: Tanya and Arthdal. He wouldn't have the first the way he wanted to, though he was determined not to give up on Tanya, but he would make sure to have the second. Tagon had not officially announced it yet but he was heir to the throne. Tagon had told him he would be. There was no reason for him to change his mind. He would be king after Tagon. But what if he didn't have to wait? If Eunseom was Inaishingi, maybe he, Saya, was the true Aramun Haesulla the people had been waiting for. Maybe he could be a better king than Tagon. Maybe he could rise above him and become a god himself. The image of a united Arthdal under his reign began to take shape in his mind. He wouldn't live in the dark anymore. He would proudly walk into the light and show his purple blood. Tanya would walk by his side and they would rule on the people's hearts, just like she wanted to do.

As Saya allowed his imagination to take hold, the lines between reality and his desires blurred. A flame of ambition woke up within him, driving him to consider the audacious notion of seizing the throne for himself. He envisioned a coup that would dethrone first Taealha then Tagon and place him at the helm of Arthdal. The image of himself sitting upon the majestic throne grew more vivid in his mind. The weight of the crown upon his brow, the power coursing through his veins, and the adoration of the people to whom he would have given a better life: all of it suddenly seemed within his grasp.

The reality caught up with him. Even if he joined hands with the Agos, he wasn't up to challenge Tagon's reign and deep down, he didn't truly want to. He still wished to make Tagon proud. As long as he still had hopes for that, there was no reason to betray his father. But if in Tagon's eyes, he was truly just a disposable son then maybe he would have to think about placing really carefully his pawns to make his way to the throne by his own means even if it meant having to side with Inaishingi, the current enemy of Arthdal.

From time to time, Tanya glanced at Saya with worries. She couldn't hear his thoughts as easily as she entered her bodyguard's mind but she knew he was thinking about Eunseom's proposition. The decision Saya would take could change everything. If they allied against Tagon and Taealha, they could hope to end that world to create a better one and she wanted them to do so. As they neared the Great Shrine, she gently took his hand in hers, making him out of his thoughts. "I am glad you are truly thinking about Eunseom's proposition," she said before she let go of his hand, "were you happy to meet him?"

Saya blinked, momentarily shaken from his inner musings as Tanya's voice pulled him back to reality. He gazed into her eyes, his thoughts still swirling with desires and ambitions. Her question brought a hint of vulnerability to his face as he considered how to respond. "Happy is maybe not the appropriate word but I can't deny there's a part of me that is curious about him," he finally replied.

"I hope the two of you will have the opportunity to get to know each other," she said with a small smile.

"We may be brothers but we are still strangers to one another," he pointed out.