The echo of Theodore’s voice still reverberated off the marble pillars of the throne room, making the blood run cold in the veins of every noble and minister who heard it. An oppressive silence once more descended upon the magnificent hall. Not a single court official dared to meet his dark, piercing gaze.Even Emperor Aldous, seated upon his golden throne, sat rigidly silent, his jaw clenched and his fingers clenched around the armrests of the dragon-adorned chair.“How dare you speak so boldly, you borderland lad!” hissed a white-bearded court elder from the front row suddenly, attempting to break the silence with a trembling voice. “How dare you defy His Majesty before the Grand Council?!”“Shut up, you old dog!” Theodore snapped without turning his head, his aura lashing through the air until the elderly man recoiled in fear.Theodore took another step forward. The soles of his boots struck the marble floor with a slow yet heavy thud, as if driving iron pegs into the chests of t

Not a single guard dared to move. Fear had frozen their limbs. “And to top it all… what happened the day before yesterday on my wedding day?!” Theodore’s eyes flashed like black lightning. “Right in front of hundreds of honored guests and holy priests, Lily Spencer colluded with Gerald Ford to flee the wedding altar in full view of everyone!” Theodore roared, laying bare that disgusting disgrace without a shred of mercy. “They tore up their sacred vows, trampled the honor of the Cordova clan in public, and strode straight into the bridal chamber to give free rein to their depraved lust!” “We love each other!” Gerald screamed hysterically from his wheelchair, spitting onto the marble in mad desperation. “Our love is pure! It was you who forced that marriage upon us! It was you who threatened the palace with the military might of your border forces!” “Pure love?” Theodore chuckled lowly, a devilish grin spreading across his face. “Even the stray dogs on the streets have more sha

An extraordinarily intense chill swept across the floor, causing the former Prime Minister’s cloak to flutter violently while his body was hurled against the stone steps. No one in the Ford family’s camp dared speak another word. Gerald, seated in his ivory wheelchair, could only clench the fabric covering his stump, shivering in the terror of a vengeance locked tight within him. Theodore once again fixed his gaze directly upon the Emperor, leaving not the slightest breathing space for the tyrant. “In the space of a single night, the sun has set, and now the Emperor sits here calmly listening to the ramblings of a bunch of traitorous ministers like this?” A cold sneer curled on Theodore’s lips, exposing the throne’s utter humiliation in full view of the public. “Yesterday you apologized like a wise man, last night you sent shadow assassins to the camp, and this morning you’ve gathered a pack of sycophants to lick up your own spit!” “Watch your tongue, Theodore!” Emperor Aldous

Theodore stared at the Emperor from the centre of the hall. A cold scoff slipped through his lips, shattering every shred of the feigned benevolence Aldous had just paraded before the court. “Admitting my mistake?” The corner of Theodore’s mouth curled into a derisive sneer that struck straight at the sovereign’s fragile pride. His gaze bored into the throne, unflinching. “Old Emperor, do you truly expect me to kneel and kiss this marble, begging mercy against your vulgar slander?” Theodore murmured, his voice calm yet rolling heavily across the vaulted chamber. “Open your eyes and look closely! The one who should be kneeling right now, prostrating before the Grand Council to confess his sins, his impotence to rule, and his treason against the protector clan… is you!” “YOU INSOLENT CUR!” Emperor Aldous’s roar shattered the air, the veins along his neck corded taut against his choking fury. His withered face flared crimson as burning embers, the tyrant’s façade crumbling beyond r

Maxime’s pupils, hidden behind his iron mask, shrank to the size of a needle’s tip. Unimaginable terror froze his blood as his slash was halted mid-air by an invisible yet incredibly solid wall of energy. “This inner energy… it’s impossible! Your dantian… your meridians aren’t shattered?!” The heirloom blade in his hand trembled wildly, rebounding as if it had struck a meteorite mountain. All the deadly momentum Maxime had built up was obliterated in the blink of an eye before the unshakeable wall of golden-black aura. “In your eyes, that cheap poison is deadly, but to me it’s nothing more than a mosquito bite,” whispered Theodore right into Maxime’s frozen ear. Theodore did not pause for even a fraction of a second. From beneath the folds of his cloak, his right hand seized the hilt of a long sword sheathed in dark silver—the Northern Sky-Splitter, an ice-meteorite heirloom handed down directly by his younger sister, Serena! SRIIIIING! The blade was drawn in a single tw