Chapter 86: The Fallen Crown and the Shadow's Advocate
The sky over Onyx Reach was the color of bruised plums, heavy with the scent of impending rain. Within the jagged peaks of the kingdom, the ancestral castle of King Marzerk stood like a silent sentinel. The atmosphere was suffocating, thick with the mourning of a nation and the sharp, jagged edges of political ambition.
The massive obsidian doors of the castle groaned open. Three figures emerged, their presence instantly silencing the thousands of citizens gathered below the grand balcony.
In the lead was Princess Haya. At only sixteen, her long pink hair caught the dim light, swaying around her waist like silk. Her eyes were red from weeping, but she stood tall, a fragile flower in a garden of thorns. Beside her walked Princess Himari, twenty-one and radiating a sharp, cold authority. Her crimson, mid-length hair framed a face that looked as if it had been carved from marble—beautiful, yet unyielding.
But it was the figure behind them that commanded the most dread. Prince Minato stepped forward to the edge of the stage. His dark brown hair fell in long, unruly layers over his shoulders, and his blood-red eyes scanned the crowd with a predatory stillness. At twenty-two, he was already known for his ruthless efficiency in the King's private guard.
Minato reached the podium. He adjusted the microphone, the metallic screech echoing through the valley of Onyx Reach.
"Citizens of the Reach," Minato began, his voice deep and resonating with a practiced sorrow. "As you are all painfully aware, yesterday was a day of darkness. In a cowardly attack, our father, King Marzerk, was taken from us. The throne sits empty, and the crown is stained with the blood of a lion."
A low murmur rippled through the crowd—a mix of grief and fear.
"However," Minato continued, his red eyes flashing, "the King was a man of foresight. I hold in my hand his final testament—his will. I shall read his wishes to you now, for it is you who must decide if his legacy continues, or if a new era begins. The decision of who shall wear the crown next will be decided by the strength of the blood and the will of the people."
As the people of Onyx Reach braced for the fallout of a dead king, thousands of miles away, the gears of a different fate were grinding in the dark.
Athelgard: Rollv 13 Prison
The transition from the royal balcony of Onyx Reach to the damp, lightless cell of Rollv 13 was jarring. Here, there were no cheering crowds—only the sound of dripping water and the rhythmic clanking of Ren's chains against the stone wall.
Ren sat with his back against the jagged masonry, his eyes fixed on Hana. She was sitting opposite him, her legs still draped uselessly across the floor like discarded cloth.
"Hana, look at me," Ren said, his voice soft but firm. "You're overthinking again. I can see it in your eyes. Don't worry about the lawyer, and definitely don't worry about me. In just a little while, the legal team Go mentioned will be here. We tell them the truth—every detail about the school, the necklace, and Miku. I'll make sure they focus everything on you. I'll get you out of here, even if I have to stay behind."
Hana looked up, her expression a mix of love and deep-seated anger. "You... you always do this, Ren. You always play the martyr. You act like your life doesn't have any value as long as I'm breathing."
She gestured to his chains and his mangled arm. "You didn't even tell me you became a Vaner! You hid your whole life from me! You put yourself in danger every single day just to buy me food, and now you're in a cage because you wouldn't let them kill me. Do you think I like this? Do you think I want to be free if it means you rot in here?"
Ren looked away, his jaw tightening. "If I hadn't become a Vaner, you would have starved. If I didn't care for you, who would? You're the only thing I have left in this world, Hana. My life is protecting yours. That was the deal I made with myself the day our parents... the day we were left alone."
"I'm not a child anymore, Ren!" Hana cried out, her voice echoing. "I'm a victim of a curse, yes, but you're a victim of your own self-sacrifice! You're 50% Feral, you have a Magic Crow pathway that's killing you, and you're acting like everything is fine!"
Ren went to respond, but the words died in his throat. The heavy hydraulic lock on their cell door hissed. The sound of rotating gears filled the small space, and the massive steel slab slid open.
A guard stood at the entrance, his hand on his baton, but he didn't enter. Instead, he stepped aside, making way for a figure that looked completely alien in the grime of Rollv 13.
A man stepped into the cell. He was dressed in a sharp, charcoal-black three-piece suit that was pressed so perfectly it looked like it belonged in a high-end corporate office. His shoes were polished to a mirror shine, clicking sharply on the stone. He wore thin, silver-rimmed glasses that caught the dim moonlight, and he carried a sleek leather briefcase.
He didn't look like a lawyer; he looked like an executioner who had traded his axe for a law degree.
The man adjusted his glasses, his eyes scanning Ren's chains and Hana's paralyzed legs with a cold, clinical detachment. He didn't show pity, nor did he show fear.
"Ren Vority? Hana Vority?" the man asked, his voice smooth and devoid of any emotion.
Ren stood up as best as he could, his chains rattling aggressively. He stepped in front of Hana, shielding her instinctively. "Who are you? Did Go send you?"
The man didn't answer immediately. He snapped open his briefcase and pulled out a digital tablet, the blue light illuminating his face. "My name is Silas Thorne. I am the lead counsel assigned to your case by the Enoki estate. We have exactly twenty minutes before the warden realizes I've bypassed three security protocols to speak with you privately."
He looked at Ren, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk touching his lips. "Mr. Vority, the city wants your head on a spike, and they want your sister in a lab. I, however, prefer to win cases that people call 'impossible.' Shall we begin?"
Ren looked at the man, then back at Hana. The air in the room had changed. The lawyer wasn't just a visitor; he was a shark that had just entered their cage.
"Tell us what we need to do," Ren said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous tone.
"First," Silas said, looking at Ren's mangled arm. "We need to talk about why the King's personal guard was seen leaving the scene of your arrest. Because this isn't just a trial anymore, Ren. It's a declaration of war."