"I mean I think we were played," Jackal said, calm, but with anger starting to thread in between his words. "Mizuki and his miracle cure is... is where the change started, right? He was different while he was sick, but not the way he is now. He was angry, but he wasn't..."

He was running out of words, he thought ruefully. Or he just didn't want to put any to the guilt he was starting to feel. Because their job had been to give Yukimura the information he needed to make the decision soundly, and they'd failed.

"His anger made sense, there were reasons for it. There's no reason for him to be so... careless with us and the princess. What's... what is it that he's struggling with? What's... imprisoning him?"