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Sheng China wrote:

the great snipping

Deraj shakes his head with pursed lips. "My poor dear sweet boy. To be the victim of the viciousness of court and noble politics." He rests his hand against his heart, "I know all to well the heartache that you have suffered. For I too suffered as a victim to the cruelty of the politics of the corrupt and unjust."

Looking into the fire, the light of the flames dancing in his silver eyes, Deraj recalled his own past. His voice becoming notedly somber, "From the moment of my birth, I was nothing more than a pawn to be used in the games of inter clan and family politics."

"Passed around house to house as a hostage to guarantee agreements and treaties. Discarded and not cared for by my family. By the people that was supposed to love and care for me." The chain in his hand stopped swinging and the grip on his glass tumbler tightened. "I was finally traded to a cruel monstrous man that did horrors to me that haunt my nightmares to this very day."

Deraj's gaze into the fire intensified along with the resonance of his voice which grew with anger, "At one point my mind finally broke and I was left for dead as a useless wretch. In the darkest voids of my mind, as I lay dying, I fought and freed myself from my societal subjugation." He paused a moment staring into the fire of the great fireplace. "I swore my vengeance against them all. I swore to be free of it all."

"I planned and schemed. I devoted myself to the destruction of those that wronged me, those that abandoned me, those that hurt me, and those that benefited from a despicable evil system that nearly destroyed me." The Emperor was now seemingly in a rant, lost to the world around him as he recounted the dark times of his life.

"And finally, in the fires of their burning and ruined lives I took my righteous vengeance against them and smitted them from the face of this earth." The glass tumbler in Deraj's hand then shattered under the pressure of his tightening grip. The shattering seemed to break him from the momentary trance that he had fallen into. He blinked his eyes a few times before he shook his hand of the remaining liquor. "Apologies, dear Zixin. I forget my own strength sometimes when I'm in my own mind."

Linus appears and hands the Emperor a fresh new filled glass with an attendant standing behind him with a small broom and dustpan for the broken glass. "Thank you, Linus." Deraj says automatically.

"The point I was trying to make is I understand and feel for your plight Zixin. I truly do." Deraj explains after sipping from the new glass. He starts to swing the gold chain from his waist in his other hand again. "Also, the only way to get what you want is to take it yourself. And if so be it, by whatever means necessary." He adds with a smirk and chuckle.

Deraj leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, "I hope that someday I might be able to help you, dear prince. Should you seek to right some wrongs. As someone that has suffered similar injustices of corrupt broken systems, I like to see myself now as a champion to those in need. So if you have need, you can turn to me when you have nowhere else to turn to." He smiles widely as his eyes glow in the fire's light.

Leaning back into his seat, Deraj happily hums as he drinks from his cup again. "So then, what brings you to the Obelisk today, Prince Zixin? A problem that I might help you with? Does the Imperial Court in China require something of me?"