Cecilia found herself standing in the vast, echoing expanse of the Imperial throne room in Avalon. But it was horrifyingly wrong. The familiar grandeur was gone, replaced by decay and neglect. Dust lay thick on the polished obsidian floor, motes dancing visibly in weak, watery beams of light filtering through grime-streaked, towering windows. Priceless tapestries depicting the Empire's history hung frayed and faded, some torn, revealing bare stone beneath. The twin Imperial thrones, usually gleaming symbols of power and continuity, were dull, chipped, shrouded in cobwebs. The air itself felt heavy, stagnant, thick with the cloying scent of dust, decay, and utter, profound failure.

Arthur stood before the empty thrones, his back to her. He didn't wear his usual practical attire, nor the formal wear of state functions. He was clad in simple, dark clothing, his posture conveying not strength, but a weary, final resignation. He didn't turn, didn't acknowledge her presence directly. He simply spoke, his voice quiet, yet carrying a weight of absolute finality that crushed the breath from her lungs, echoing unnervingly in the decaying hall.

"It is done, Cecilia," he said, the words falling like stones into the oppressive silence. And then, he began to speak of her past. Not her achievements, not her struggles, not the heavy burden of leadership she had carried since birth. He spoke of her youth, of the arrogance, the entitlement, the casual cruelty she had sometimes wielded as a princess shielded from consequence. He spoke of specific incidents, long buried under layers of duty and genuine change, incidents where she had treated attendants like objects, rivals like pawns, people's feelings like inconvenient variables in her personal equations.

"You treated people like toys," the projection of Arthur stated, his voice flat, devoid of heat, yet utterly damning. "Playthings to be manipulated for your amusement or discarded when they ceased to be useful. You saw lineage as a shield, power as a license, empathy as a weakness to be exploited in others." He recounted a specific, humiliating memory – a social slight delivered with calculated precision, a rival dismissed with casual contempt, an attendant punished for an imagined infraction – details dredged up from the recesses of her mind, amplified, twisted, presented as the undeniable sum of her character.

"I understand, on some level," he continued, still not turning, his voice taking on a tone of weary judgment. "The pressures of your station, the isolation, the expectations. But understanding does not excuse. That core… that willingness to view others as less, as tools for your ambition or entertainment… it remains. Hidden, perhaps. Polished by duty. But present."

He finally turned, and the sight of his face nearly broke her carefully constructed composure. There was no anger, no hatred, no fury. Only a profound, sorrowful distance, a quiet, settled certainty that felt more devastating than any rage. His eyes, usually filled with warmth, respect, or fierce determination when he looked at her, now held only a calm, final judgment.

"I cannot build the future I envision, the just future we fight for, with that shadow, that potential for casual cruelty, standing beside me on the throne," he said. "The Empire deserves a ruler whose heart is not compromised by such inherent flaws. I deserve a partner whose foundations are built on respect, not just control." His gaze met hers, clear, unwavering, absolute in its rejection. "You are, at your core, compromised by who you once were. Unworthy of the burden you carry. Unworthy of the trust required." He made a small, almost imperceptible gesture, a final, quiet dismissal. "I release you. From your duties to the Empire that you are unfit to lead. From our bond, which was built on a flawed perception." His voice dropped, delivering the final blow. "Go. Leave Avalon. Find some quiet corner of the world and reflect on the person you failed to become."

Abandonment. Judgment based on a self she had fought for years to overcome. Rejection, absolute and final, from the one person whose belief in her, whose partnership, had become the bedrock of her existence, the motivation for her own transformation. The throne room seemed to tilt, the decaying grandeur mocking her. The weight of his judgment felt absolute, crushing not just her authority, but her very sense of self, invalidating the years of genuine change, the love she felt, the person she had painstakingly become for him, with him.

Tears, hot and humiliating, threatened to breach the iron control she maintained over her emotions. A strangled sound escaped her lips. She wanted to scream, to rage, to argue, to force him to see the woman she was now, not the entitled girl she had been. But the cold finality in his projected gaze, the utter certainty of his judgment, seemed unshakeable, absolute. It played perfectly on her deepest, most hidden vulnerability – the fear that her past mistakes were unforgivable, that the core of her was inherently flawed, making her ultimately unworthy of the love and trust she craved, especially from Arthur, whose moral compass, whose fundamental goodness, she respected above all else.

Yet… even as despair threatened to shatter her imperial facade, the core of her being – the indomitable will forged in the crucible of royal politics, the strength that had seen her navigate plots and betrayals and the weight of an Empire – refused to break completely. This Arthur… the coldness, the simplistic judgment, the utter lack of nuance… it felt wrong. Too flat. Too absolute. The real Arthur, the man she knew, the man she loved with a fierceness that surprised even herself, was complex. He understood the grey areas, the burden of necessary evils, even when he despised them. He judged actions, yes, but he also saw potential, acknowledged change, offered not just condemnation, but the possibility of redemption, of growth. This cold, final dismissal, focusing solely on her past sins while ignoring years of genuine transformation? It lacked his depth, his fundamental fairness, his belief in her.

'This is not him,' the single quote was a spark of furious defiance igniting in the encroaching darkness. 'This is a phantom. A projection of my own deepest fear, given his voice by her power. It focuses only on what I was, because it cannot comprehend who I am now.'

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