Chapter 181

It was Kana’s first time in the Royal Castle—no, fortress—where the king himself resided. Up close, it didn’t mirror the ornate palaces from children’s storybooks. This place wasn’t meant to impress.

It was meant to withstand.

The outer walls were lined with runes so old they pulsed faintly along the stone like veins. Magic seeped through them in a quiet, steady rhythm—protective wards, detection barriers, possibly even anti-teleportation runes. The mana around was so dense that her [High Awareness] could tell them.

People moved with purpose. Servants hurried around like streams flowing around boulders, every one of them efficient and silent. Knights in full armor patrolled the halls in pairs, their boots striking the stone floors in a synchronized cadence that echoed like a heartbeat through the fortress.

The deeper they went, the more it felt like they were walking through an ancient maze designed to disorient intruders. Each corridor twisted unexpectedly. Each staircase seemed carved in a slightly different style, as though built during different eras of the kingdom’s history. Kana quickly lost her sense of direction.

She wondered if that was intentional.

Finally, after three floors and what felt like a dozen turns, Frank Solis stopped before a carved wooden door bearing the royal sigil.

He knocked firmly.

“Kana of the Saltrain Village is here.”

A soft murmur from inside—permission.

Frank gave her one last look, his expression neutral but eyes subtly concerned.

“Please go inside.”

Kana took a deep breath before pushing the door.

A cold wind hit her the moment she stepped in. The room had an open balcony overlooking the entire city. From here, the kingdom looked small enough to cup in one’s hands. The air was sharp, colder than the city below—an altitude chill that bit through her clothes.

A man stood near the balcony, hands clasped behind him as the wind tugged at his thick winter mantle. His sapphire-blue eyes glimmered like polished gemstones when he turned.

The resemblance struck Kana immediately.

He looks like the prince… the one we tried to save in the northern dungeon.

But there was something far heavier in the king’s gaze. A pressure. A presence. After seeing Zia carve through monsters like a storm, after facing the shadowed man, after witnessing the guildmaster’s raw force—Kana had gained an insight for strength.

The man before her wasn’t strong because of lineage.

He was strong the way iron becomes steel—

fired, folded, refined.

Kana’s heart raced. A small, irrational part of her wanted to ask what his class was.

“I am King J,” he said, voice steady, controlled—like someone accustomed to commanding people.

Instinctively, Kana dropped to one knee.

The weight of the moment pressed onto her shoulders like a mantle.

“Rise,” King J said.

He gestured toward a chair opposite his desk. “And have a seat. Make yourself comfortable.”

Kana stood, her legs strangely stiff, and crossed the room.

The balcony wind whispered behind her, the cold brushing against her skin like a warning.

Something about this place, this audience, felt more dangerous than any dungeon she had stepped into.

And she hadn’t even been told yet why she was summoned.

….

Inside the king’s private room, the air felt heavy, as though the walls themselves were listening. King J lifted his cup and took a slow, thoughtful sip, the faint clink of porcelain breaking the silence.

“We planned to notify you weeks ago,” he said at last, his voice quiet, but edged with irritation. “But you seemed to vanish from every corner of the kingdom. The duke reported you were preparing for the annual tournament, then later that you had gone south.”

He exhaled sharply. Not quite anger — more the weary frustration of a man carrying a nation on his shoulders.

“We don’t have enough manpower to scour half the kingdom for a single person,” he continued. “Not when the south alone is wide enough to swallow thousands of battalions.”

He paused, then muttered under his breath, “Sorry for my rambling. Must be age catching me.”

Kana stayed still. The king did not strike her as old — only tired. Tired in the way leaders were tired; the kind of fatigue that came from too many impossible decisions.

King J set his cup down.

“Right… it all began with the sudden notice from the Empire.”

Kana stiffened.The empire?

Her mind scrambled through possibilities — the twins, the unpaid inn fee she hoped wasn’t serious enough for international consequences.

Am I going to be a slave?

“The empire?” she echoed, unable to hide her hesitation.

“Yes,” King J said, leaning back slightly. “They dressed it up as a cultural exchange. A gesture of goodwill to deepen ties for the future of the three kingdoms and the Empire.”

Kana was relieved. Fortunately, not about what she was thinking.

“The other two kingdoms agreed immediately.” He gave Kana a meaningful look. “Which means I had no choice but to accept as well.”

He lifted his cup again, but did not drink. His voice dropped to a near whisper, but the weight of it settled on Kana’s shoulders like iron.

“If I decline, there will be questions. Many questions. And if I answer even one of them poorly… our kingdom’s existence may be at stake.”

Kana swallowed, throat suddenly dry. She had no idea how a conversation could risk a kingdom’s survival. But the king’s tone said enough — this wasn’t mere diplomacy. This was a knife-edge deal, the slightest stumble capable of drawing blood.

“Each nation will send delegates,” King J continued. “Since the exchange focuses on the future, all parties agreed that the youngest generation will represent them. Their prodigies. Their monsters. Their heirs. Their future.”

He tapped a finger once on the table.

“The Empire will visit us first. During our annual tournament festival.”

Kana’s stomach twisted.

“And the highlight of this year’s tournament…” The king’s sapphire eyes locked onto hers. “It will be a duel of the youngest prodigies between our kingdom and the Empire.”

He raised three fingers.

“The Empire has chosen three of its most talented youths — all within your academy’s age. But I heard they are not as young as you.”

He lowered his hand.

“We will answer with three of our own.”

The silence thickened. Kana felt her heartbeat echo in her ears, heavy enough to drown out thought.

“Ryle Greece,” the king said.

“Shaun Dawn.”

His gaze hardened. “And you… Kana of the Saltrain Village.”

Kana’s breath caught. She had expected many things, but not this.

The king folded his hands on the table.

“We don’t need a complete victory,” he said quietly. “We don’t need to dominate them. We just need one win.”

His eyes were clear, sharp, resolute.

“One win… so our kingdom does not embarrass itself before the Empire.”

A beat of silence.

Kana looked up at the tall ceiling—vaulted stone disappearing into shadow—then slowly lowered her gaze to the king. Her voice came out quiet, but edged with something sharper than steel.

“This will not benefit me.”

The warmth in the room faltered. The brazier’s flames seemed to pull inward, as though the air itself had grown wary. Kana’s demeanor shifted, the way a winter storm shifts—quietly at first, then frightening in its inevitability. Her posture straightened; her eyes hardened. Even her breathing seemed to change, more controlled, more focused. 

Her presence became something else entirely.

Not loud. Not violent. Heavy.

It pressed on the room like an unseen weight, the kind that made the tapestries tremble ever so slightly, the tea steam hesitate before curling upward.

She didn’t even know she was doing it.

All she could think about was the truth burning in her chest like a brand—the king was using her. Again. Like everyone else before him, she was another tool. Yet she couldn’t remember exactly who they were.

If the empire discovered her and they became wary of her… they would come for her. Not just her. They would trace everything about her. Every friend. Every home. Every family.

She imagined Suri’s laughter fading into silence.

Rin’s brave smile crushed under someone’s boot.

Her mother, the villagers, the kids trembling hands clutching nothing but ashes.

A coldness wrapped around Kana’s heart, sealing every other thought.

She would not accept that.

And especially not from the king.

King J’s eyes widened—not in fear, but in something unsettlingly close to exhilaration. His breath hitched. A grin unfurled across his face, too large for someone receiving such defiance.

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed.

The porcelain cup shattered in his tightening grasp, tea spilling like dark amber blood over his fingers. He didn’t even flinch. His stare locked on Kana as if he were witnessing the return of something long lost.

“You are really his daughter,” he breathed. “There is no mistake about it.”

Kana blinked. The cold around her flickered, briefly replaced by confusion. His daughter?

Her father? The man she’d spent years refusing to think about? The shadows of memories she could never quite grasp?

“You know my father?” she asked, her voice softer now, but still wary.

King J leaned back, letting out a breath that turned into a laugh—loud, unrestrained, almost relieved

"You have... no idea then."

“I spent half of my life around your father,” he said. “Half my life.”

The words hit Kana harder than any blade. She had never been interested before. Her father was simply a fact—someone who existed somewhere far from her, someone who left. Her mother was enough. She had never needed more.

But now… she felt it.

A pull.

A hollow space inside her, suddenly aware of a shape it could fit.

Who was her father?

What was he doing when he wasn’t with them?

Why had he left?

Why… had he left her?

Kana’s heart was beating fast and loud. The room felt smaller, as if the walls themselves leaned in, hungry for her reaction.

And the king, still staring at her with that knowing grin, seemed to know exactly what had awakened inside her.

Post note:
Hope you the chap! 🙂