CHAPTER 98: ACCEPT CONNECTION?

CHAPTER 98: ACCEPT CONNECTION?
OSKAR

The shift change is tight—exactly two minutes.

I lean against the corridor wall just around the bend from the palace control room. The buzz of conversation echoes faintly as the two officers finish their routine.

The one on duty now—Martens—is already yawning like he’s halfway into a nap. Perfect.

I pull out my phone and send a message to the palace kitchen line. Anonymous. High-priority. Emergency code attached for legitimacy.

Three… two…

Martens’ walkie goes off, sharp and shrill.

“Martens, kitchen needs confirmation on the private line. Emergency code just came through.”

He curses under his breath, grumbling as he leaves his post, phone in hand, heading toward the back comms line to verify. I wait a beat.

Then I move into the blind spot of the CCTV camera. 

I found it within my first week here after making friends with the guard on duty. Back then, I would have had no problem at all doing what I’m doing now. 

But something has changed in the last couple of weeks. And this feels all shades of wrong. 

Still, I move. 

I slip into the room and close the door softly behind me. The sound of monitors fills the air—wall after wall of palace footage, all frozen in near silence.

The scent in here is faintly metallic, like old wiring and synthetic air freshener. The central console glows softly in the middle, and I slide into the chair like I belong here.

First, I enter the manual override. My fingers tremble slightly as I type in the string of access codes—but my training kicks in.

Five years in IT, countless hours spent refining my own systems at home, and the...let’s say, ‘unofficial’ side jobs I took to keep my baby sister in university—yeah, I know what I’m doing.

The original plan was to get me into the palace as a tech securoty specialist, but then he figured it would be better to be closer to a person than to a computer.

If Ariana could see me now, I wonder if she would be proud of her big brother.

I shove down the thought and continue. 

Security zones A3 through C1 go dark. Not visibly, just internally. They won’t trigger alarms or alert the guards on patrol. But they’re blind now—three key corridors that include the north vault and two restricted halls.

Then the screen shifts.

A single prompt appears: ACCEPT CONNECTION?

I stare at it for one guilt-soaked minute, my heart pounding in my chest.

Throat dry, I press ACCEPT with shaking fingers. 

A low loading bar inches across the screen. No data shows. No logo. Just white lines crawling forward. I hold my breath until it reaches one hundred. When it’s done, the screen resets like nothing happened.

Then I reactivate the zones, erase the command history, and exit the system.

My sigh feels like I’m exhaling poisonous gas.

I open the door and step out into the corridor, adjusting my black uniform shirt and wiping a bead of sweat from the back of my neck. I did it, unseen.

Or that’s what I think until I turn the corner and stop cold.

Elise.

She’s standing by the hallway’s curve, arms folded, eyes narrowed. A tendril of hair has slipped out of the soft, elegant bun she wears when she’s tired but still needs to look like a princess.

We freeze.

“Elise?”

She steps forward slowly with a frown. “What were you doing in there?”

I open my mouth. Close it. Open it again—nothing comes out.

We hear a sound at the end of the hallway, and she takes my hand without warning and pulls me down another hallway.

It leads to a quiet stretch near the archive wing. Her hand is warm, and despite the situation, all I can think about is never letting her go.

“Elise.” My heart hammers viciously.

“What were you doing there?” she repeats, eyes narrowed. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have clearance to be in the control room.”

I swallow. The words crash against me. I want to lie. Defend. Destroy myself first. But before I can speak—

“You need to tell me what you did, Oskar,” she insists. 

My jaw clenches. I open my mouth. Close it.

She touches my arm, and her voice strains. “I want to believe in you.”

God, she means it.

I swallow again.

She continues: “But I can’t fully do that if you don’t tell me what you did.”

“Elise…” is all my stupid brain can manage to come up with. 

How do I start? Where do I start? Maybe I should just tell her about the first time I met—

“Don’t keep secrets from me, Oskar,” she says softly. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Whatever you did to Johan to make him apologize, he probably deserved it.”

I blink. “What?”

“Johan,” she says. I know you did something to him to make him apologize. And then there was the time you were in the west wing. And now you’re sneaking out of the control room? You have to tell me something, Oskar.” 

I stare at her, stunned. For a split second, I thought… No. She doesn’t know. There’s no way she can know.

She sighs when I still don’t say anything. “I promise I’m not trying to pry or be controlling in any way. I just… I want to protect you.”

“Protect me?”

She nods. “Things are really tense in the palace right now, and every worker here is going under a fucking microscope. In the briefing room, the PR team was talking about background checks and monitoring the actions of everyone in the palace from now on. I don’t want my actions—or my personal drama—to cost you your place here.”

She’s worried about me. She wants to protect me, and a few seconds ago, I was doing something that could put her and her family in danger.

The award for the biggest asshole in the world goes to me.

“I’m fine, Elise. I promise I didn’t do anything dangerous. With Johan and now.”

She heaves a sigh of relief and takes my hand. “I trust you, Oskar. You know that, right?”

The guilt is a tapeworm, eating me up from within.

“I know,” I whisper.

She smiles softly. “Alright then, Oskar. Have a good night.”

She walks away, and I just stand there.

Watching her go.

The weight in my chest presses harder than ever. Guilt coils tight in my lungs. I should’ve told her something. I should’ve stopped.

But I didn’t.

I can’t.

I have a goal for coming here. I’m here as a small part of a much bigger plan. A plan that’ll bring real change to this country. A plan that will give me answers and serve a greater cause.

And I repeat that to myself as I walk towards the exit in silence, hoping it’ll make me feel better. The scent of polish and fresh linens follows me through the hall. When I reach my door, I pause with my hand on the knob.

Is this worth it?

I have absolutely no answer to that.

But I do know one thing.

If Elise ever finds out what I’ve done… There won’t be a way back. No redemption.

And that realization might just be the worst thing ever.