The Three Who Reached for a King
After giving the finance minister his deadline, Leon stepped back from the cell, the man still bowing and shaking behind the bars like a lump of terrified at.
Leon glanced to the side.
The nearest guard straightened imdiately.
"You," Leon said, voice calm but edged with command. "From today onward, this minister is in your care. He will get everything he needs—but not more than he asks."
The guard thumped a fist over his chest. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Provide him with any ledgers, scrolls, and docunts he requests," Leon continued. "Send people to his house. Bring every ledger, sealed chest, and hidden compartnt he points to. I don’t want a single book or coin vanishing on the way."
"Yes, sire. We’ll personally escort all records."
Leon’s gaze sharpened. "And after two weeks, I’ll co back to collect what he’s prepared. If anything goes missing, I’ll know whether the rat is inside the cage or standing outside it. Understood?"
A flicker of nervous sweat touched the guard’s brow.
"I... understand perfectly, Your Majesty. Please rest assured—we will do exactly as you command."
Leon nodded once, satisfied. "Good."
He turned away from the cell.
His boots echoed against the stone, the sound faint but clear as he began walking down the prison corridor again, the torchlight stretching his shadow along the damp walls.
Cells lined both sides.
n and won watched in silence.
So glared.
So bowed their heads.
So stared in numb emptiness, as if nothing more in this world could surprise them.
Leon walked between them without slowing.
He wasn’t here for them.
His mind replayed what had just happened in the cell—his orders to the minister, the weight of the bargain he’d created. Two weeks. Enough ti to pull teeth quietly. He didn’t need the system for this. Humans were easier to work with than so hibernating voice in his head.
He exhaled slowly.
Building a kingdom is just organizing people’s greed into order, he thought. Redirect it, chain it, or cut it off. Simple.
He turned a corner.
And then—
His foot paused mid-step.
A sharp sensation cut through his awareness, like a needle pressing against the side of his skull. Not hostility. Not killing intent. But sothing else.
A gaze.
Heavy. Focused. Old.
Leon stopped completely.
The guard nearest him reacted instantly. "Your Majesty? Is sothing wrong?"
Leon didn’t answer.
He slowly turned his head, letting his senses sweep the dim space around him. The torches flickered uneasily, light and shadow fighting over the corners of the hall.
There.
On his left.
A large cell half-swallowed by darkness, bigger than the others. Six thick stone pillars rose from the ground to the ceiling inside it, each one with heavy iron chains dangling from hooks, so taut, so hanging loose. The faint clink of tal echoed when the air shifted.
Leon stepped closer.
The flas behind him pushed his shadow forward, washing a little more light into the cell.
Three figures were bound inside.
One was chained standing upright against the central pillar.
The other two were bound between the others—wrists and ankles caught in iron cuffs, chains stretched enough to force them upright, but just short of tearing their shoulders.
Even from a distance, Leon couldn’t make out all the details of their faces. The darkness clung to them stubbornly, but he could see the shape of their bodies. Slender. Strong once, perhaps, now starved down. Hair hanging loosely, so strands grey, so dull black.
The one on the central pillar lifted their head.
Old.
He could see that clearly now. Grey hair, matted but still thick, fell around a worn yet straight neck. A pair of eyes stared back at him.
Not dull.
Not empty.
Sharp. asuring. Awake.
Leon held the gaze without blinking.
The guard shifted nervously beside him. "My sire...?"
Leon’s voice was quiet. "Why are those three here?"
The guard blinked, caught off guard by the question.
"These three...?" He glanced quickly at the cell, then back at Leon. "They are—ah—dangerous prisoners, Your Majesty."
Leon’s gaze didn’t move from the figures.
"I asked why they are here," he repeated, a hint of steel in his tone.
The guard swallowed, then straightened, choosing his words carefully.
"They’re imprisoned because... they once attempted to assassinate the forr king—King Garay."
Leon raised a brow, finally turning slightly to look at the man.
"Assassinate Garay?"
The guard nodded stiffly. "Yes, Your Majesty. Years ago. Before the war with Moonstone began. They infiltrated the capital and went straight for him. The forr king defeated the three of them and ordered them to be crippled and kept alive here."
Leon’s eyes flicked back to the cell.
The old one in the center was still staring at him. Not with hatred. Not even with desperation.
With... curiosity.
Leon’s lips curled faintly. "Is that so?"
The guard nodded. "That is what the records and older guards say, sire."
Leon took a step closer toward the bars, torchlight licking across his face.
"What was their cultivation?" he asked.
"At that ti, they were all at the Grandmaster Realm, Your Majesty," the guard replied promptly. "Peak stage, as far as we know. Now they’re crippled. Their ridians were shattered by King Garay personally. They’ve been rotting here ever since."
Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Three Grandmasters," he murmured. "And Garay still chose to keep them alive."
"Yes, sire," the guard said. "He wanted to make an example out of them."
Leon humd, but his mind was already running ahead.
Three Grandmasters tried to kill a Monarch Realm king.
That part made sense. Ambitious, suicidal, stupid—there were lots of words for that. But sothing sank wrong in his gut.
One Monarch Realm cultivator can take on ten Grandmasters without sweating if he’s competent, Leon thought. So why were three confident enough to go after him?
Were they insane?
Or did they know sothing about Garay that others didn’t?
The old prisoner’s gaze sharpened, as if he felt Leon reaching that conclusion.
Leon studied them quietly.
The chains were old but intact. Their bodies were thin but not wasted to bones. Soone had been feeding them. Enough to live. Not enough to thrive.
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