“That’s your problem,” Halfdan pointed out. “How do you expect to me King when you can’t even stand up for yourself? You carry a sword, but don’t even know how to use it. What will you do if your people do not respect you?”
“I do not want my people to fear me.”
“Not fear. Respect is different. When you respect someone, you look up to them. You would do near anything for them, but you are not blinded by your love for them. You have yet to do anything a true leader would do, yet you ask why the nobles of Bergen place you as the least likely to be King? Even less than your sisters who, as long as they are unmarried, will never have a chance to be King.” Halfdan shook his head, his tone was not harsh, but his words were.
“I will tell you what I really think. I think you have let Erik push you around because you wonder if you are his dog, he will grant you power. If the King came here suddenly asking for something, you’d immediately jump and do whatever he wanted, because you want to be on other’s good side.”
Halfdan leaned his hands on the table, yet he did not strike fear into Sigurd’s heart.
“I’ll tell you this too, you are capable of becoming a true ruler. That is also why I stay, because I’ll grant you this. In a few years, you won’t be a twenty-year-old who falsely carries a sword while running around everyone like a dog. In a few years, if you grow, you could be a fair and king King. Qualities that any King should have. Now though, you are a spoiled boy wearing the clothing of a man.”
Halfdan stared at Sigurd as the seconds went by. He was not enraged, or angry in any way, but he wondered if his words would flow into one ear and out the other, or if he’d take his words to his soul.
“You don’t know anything about me,” Sigurd stated.
Halfdan chuckled. “I’ve known you for a while now, I think I do. I’ve learned a lot from Bjorn too. I know you were raised by a whore. I know your father gave your mother a large villa in the city after she found out she was pregnant. I know that you were raised to be a spoiled and selfish child. You had everything handed to you. But there is always one thing you missed out on, your father’s love. You still chase it to this day. You’re the only heir in the family with dark hair. You think because of this you have to chase around everyone to prove yourself worthy to be King. But I have yet to understand why you don’t consider the possibility because you chase around, you have put yourself lower.”
Sigurd’s eye’s widened in response, unsure of what he meant.
“There it is. Maybe because you chase around so much, you have proved yourself to be less worthy to be King than an old man like myself. I could be a better King than you could, and I have never received any training. So do not sit here and place yourself with in the ranks of scum like Erik.”
Halfdan moved, walking toward the door. “I have work to do, consider the words we shared.”
With that he walked out, leaving Sigurd alone to his thoughts.
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