"Kael Valenhart, son of King Thalor, former Prince of the Empire of Veyruun—by decree of the High Court, you are sentenced to death for treason, conspiracy, and regicide."
The words rang out like a funeral bell forged in betrayal.
Chains bit into my wrists. I knelt on the execution altar, the cold stone slick with blood—mine, perhaps, or another forgotten traitor. Iron weighed on my limbs. Guilt did not.I tasted copper. And something worse: the bitter ash of loyalty burned alive.
The plaza thundered—not with silence, but with cheers.My people. My soldiers. My friends.They roared for my death.
I lifted my head.
The Betrayers' Gallery
He approached, slow and heavy—Ser Vyn, my father's warhound. Once, he had knelt before me in oath. Now, he couldn't meet my gaze. The executioner's sword shook in his grip.
I didn't hate him.Not yet.He, like me, had been outplayed.
The accusations were carved into law:I had poisoned King Thalor.I had colluded with enemy states.I had plotted a coup.
Lies.But lies gilded in the right court become gospel.
And gospel kills.
I scanned the crowd.
There she was. Lady Elira Voss—the woman who once whispered forever beneath the midnight trees. Now, she stood armored and unreadable. Her eyes were dry. Her posture perfect.
That hurt more than the blade about to fall.
Beside her—Prince Rovan, my younger brother. No longer second-born.Draped in imperial black and treasonous gold.My father's signet ring winked from his finger.My crown, shadowed by his smirk.
He leaned forward.
"May your soul find peace," he said, with the tenderness of a butcher.
I did not pray for peace.
I swore mine would find vengeance.
The sword lifted.Time fractured.
[SYSTEM BOOTING…][USER IDENTIFIED: STATUS — UNJUSTLY SLAIN][SYNCING EMOTIONAL TRAUMA…][FORSWORN CROWN ACCEPTED][PATH UNLOCKED: REVENGE][ACTIVATING SOULROOT RECOVERY PROTOCOL…][YOU MAY NOW CHOOSE: DIE OR RISE.]
A searing light detonated behind my eyes.My chest ignited. My veins crystallized.Reality twisted—crimson and static—until the world itself screamed.
And with it… I remembered.
My mother's last warning.The whispers beneath the throne.The sealed door.The key no one was meant to find—except me.
I tried to scream.
But no sound left my mouth.
Only darkness.
When I opened my eyes, I was not dead.
I lay shackled in pitch blackness.The floor throbbed beneath me, pulsing like a living thing.Somewhere distant, machines hummed like prayers offered to forgotten gods.
Then the voice returned:
[WELCOME, KAEL VALENHART.][YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY THE FORSAKEN THRONE.][SYSTEM INTEGRATION: PHASE I INITIATED.][QUEST UPDATED: BURN THE CROWN.]
I inhaled—and felt the fire coiled in my blood.I was no longer prince.No longer heir.No longer dead.
I was something else.
And for the first time since the world betrayed me...I smiled.