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He failed.
Lyon had thought he could bring his father back but he couldn’t.
His body was alive but not his mind. Not his soul.
So in the end he still had to rule on top of pretending none of it had happened.
And he’d never been a good actor. And he was likely an even worse ruler.
But this was the only hope he had for saving his homeland so he would do all he had to.
Which doesn’t mean any of it felt good.
Every word he made his father (or what used to be him) speak sounded wrong.
Every sentence made him worry everyone would figure out something wasn’t as it should be.
It wasn’t easy watching his father reduced to a puppet at his command.
It wasn’t easy pretending he was still alive.
But if this was what he had to do to ensure Grado had a future then he’d do it.
Because that future was worth any price.
There were things that were difficult from a technical level not just an emotional one of course.
Convincing the servants his father still needed to eat when he was just kept alive by his magic and therefore didn’t need sustenance was one.
Making sure his father’s facial expressions and gestures weren’t all wrong was another. (he could never get those details quite right.)
Thankfully finding an explanation as to why he always had to be around him wasn’t as hard.
“Because he was learning how to rule” or something of that sort.
At first he had no idea how to act but he slowly fell into a routine.
Wake up, pretend to have breakfast with his father (Making sure to never look him in the eye because he could never bear to see that empty glassy-eyed look), Attend to whatever duties he had for the day pretend to have the evening meal and retire for the day. Then repeat the next morning. Make sure to never slip up. Make sure to never leave his father’s side for too long. Make sure no one knows.
He knew it was just a matter of time before they’d figure out the truth. No matter how much he tried his imitation of his father would never be perfect. But he had to hold up the charade for as long as he could if this were to succeed. If he were to ever save his country from certain doom.