#Chapter 69: Risk

I wasn’t supposed to find it. I was looking for a distraction, something to keep me from spiraling, something to busy my hands while I tried to convince myself I still had a reason to stay. My conversation with Richard kept replaying in my head, looping endlessly with no resolution, no peace. Part of me still wanted to believe him. Part of me wanted to pretend things could settle if I just gave it time. And yet, I couldn’t shake the voice that whispered maybe Elsa was the cleaner option, the easier story, the one that wouldn’t cost him so much. I was still trying to decide what I wanted. Still unsure if I even knew. Frustration pooled in my chest, hot and bitter, because I hated how much I wanted to stay, how much I wanted to be chosen, even as the rational part of me kept whispering about optics and alliances and everything I could never be. I told myself I was being useful, that maybe something in the old campaign records could make me feel like I had a place here, that sorting t