Chapter 209: Raziel’s Playground
"Raziel?" Soleia echoed, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "I don’t understand. I thought these people were under the employ of the King―"
"They are mainly prisoners of war," Rafael explained. He pursed his lips, swallowing before he continued. "Whoever’s left alive is brought back here after each battle."
"How?" Soleia asked, her eyes wide with incredulity. Her lips gaped open and closed a couple of times before she finally squeezed out her next words. "Most magic practitioners are nobility, at the very least. How is it that there are so many here?"
There had to be at least fifty people crammed into five small cells. Even the dungeons in Vramid where Orion and his men were kept before their sentence were much better than this, and that was a low bar to meet.
What about the kingdoms they hailed from? Did their kings and queens not care? Did their families even know they were still alive? Or was King Recaldo so confident that he could keep them hidden that he didn’t care about the possibility of causing an even bigger war?
"Nobility will not be sent to fight in the front lines," Rafael replied bitterly, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Those who are strapped in and sent out to the battlefields are typically illegitimate sons and daughters, people with no political power despite their noble ancestors."
A shiver ran down Soleia’s spine as more and more wails filled the air. It seemed more like a chorus of ghouls than the cries of the living.
She looked at Rafael, and for the first time since she had found out about his true identity, she felt a wave of pity for him. He had spoken it so... personally. She supposed it was because he, too, was in the same position― an illegitimate son who was only given the power to rule simply because he had proved his worth in battle.
Or in this case, serving his father’s purposes.