2026-07-21 23:45:18
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Chapter 707
The marsh road ended a mile short of the farmhouse. Alex walked the rest alone.It was three in the morning. Still full dark. No moon. Only the weak glow of a few lanterns from the house itself. He walked straight down the middle of the causeway in his old street coat, hands loose at his sides. Anyone looking could see him coming from a long way off.Six Reagent security men waited back where the road ended. Their orders were clear and hard: nobody follows, nobody circles, nobody even stands up until Alex signals or the sun comes up. Whichever comes first.Rael’s last order had been exact. If anyone came near that house — kill her. A group of men would get her killed. A raid would get her killed. Knights on the road would get her killed.But one man, alone, unarmed, walking up the open road in the dark like he had simply gotten lost — that was different. That was a visitor.They saw him from far away, just like he wanted. By the time he reached the yard, the farmhouse had already ch
Chapter 706
The Commander walked Rael Rydell out of the Knight Office himself. Dawn light cut across the steps. Six knights formed a corridor of white tabards. Rael’s legs were still splinted. He moved like a man who had already won.“We will see you home,” the Commander said.Rael smiled with blood still dried in the corner of his mouth. “You should. And Febyella will be returned tomorrow morning. Clean. Unharmed. As agreed.”The Commander did not answer. He only nodded to the waiting flyer. When the vehicle lifted and cleared the courtyard wall, the Commander turned, tile already at his ear.“I have sent him home. Exactly as instructed.”Beatrix’s voice came back flat. “Thank you. We take it from here.”Rael laughed the entire flight. The sound bounced off the flyer’s glass. Fifty million. That was the number. She would hand it over, or the girl stayed buried.He had the city by the throat again. The knights had folded. The chairman’s people had folded. Everyone folded eventually.The flyer set
Chapter 705
The knock came at nine, and it wasn't a knock. It was the front doors of Rydell House hitting the wall hard enough to crack a hinge.Rael was in the study with the ledgers. He heard boots on the entry marble — eight men, maybe ten, moving in the drilled rhythm that meant warrant. Four seconds to decide who he was going to be.He chose grief.By the time the first knight reached the study door, he was on his feet, dressing gown half-tied, face already arranged. "What in the name of the Nine—" He let his voice crack. "Is it Febyella? Have you found her? Tell me you've found her.""Rael Rydell." The Commander himself, gauntlets on, holding a folded warrant like something he didn't want to touch. "You're under arrest.""Arrest." He said the word like it was foreign to him. Behind the knights, his mother appeared in her nightclothes, one hand pressed to the wall beneath the portraits — four generations of Rydells in oil and gilt, all of them watching. "My niece is missing, Commander. I rep
Chapter 704
They came for Alex at dawn. Six knights of the City Watch, a warrant tile glowing official blue, and a broad-shouldered sergeant who read the charge loud enough for every neighbor on the stairwell to hear it."Alexander Leonhart. Provisional registrant. You are detained on suspicion of the abduction of Febyella Steinmeyer."Alex knew those shoulders. One week ago they had marched Feby out of a Knight Station lobby, her heels scraping tile, while an inspector buried the alley case behind them. Now the same man stood on his doorstep, performing justice for an audience.Near the back stood Dax — the young knight who had biometricked Alex into existence on his first night in this world. Dax stared at the floor. He couldn't look at the man he'd given a name to. He knew what this was.For one second, something moved behind Alex's eyes. The sergeant's hand drifted toward his baton. Then it was gone — filed, shelved — and what remained was a man in yesterday's coat studying six armed knights
Chapter 703
Across the city, Alex sat at the small table in his flat. His tea had gone cold. A magic book lay open in front of him.All morning, he had been thinking about his decision. And every way he looked at it, the answer seemed right: he should leave her.The engagement was only on paper. It was never real love.And every day he stayed, he hurt her more. Or hurt himself for lying to her.He had secretly paid 50 million dollars and arranged everything so she would be accepted and protected.She didn't know. Last night on the tram, she almost guessed it. He lied to her face, with a smile — and she believed him.That scared him. He was becoming a good liar. He didn't want to become that kind of person.So he made his list of reasons: She was safe now. She was rich. The contracts he wrote protected her. She didn't need him anymore. They were just strangers — a kind woman helped a stranger once, the stranger paid her back, and now everything was even.He repeated this to himself, again and agai
Chapter 702
"Are you the chairman of the Reagent Group?"The tram hummed. Amber rail light crossed his face — once, twice. Feby watched him the way she'd learned to watch her family: for the flicker. The skipped beat. The seam.Alex laughed.Not a performed laugh. A real one, low and easy, and it reached his eyes — and that was what cracked her certainty.Five years cataloguing liars, and not one of them had ever laughed like that."Feby." He turned to face her. "Three weeks ago I didn't legally exist. You fixed that. You, personally."He drew out his identity tile, the battered gray one, and laid it flat on his palm. Nothing up my sleeve. "Issued twenty-two days ago. Provisional class. Guaranteed by the signature of one Febyella Steinmeyer, because no bank in this city would touch a man with no past. I can't open an account without your name under mine. I couldn't rent our flat. The chairman of the Reagent Group is a sealed registry, a vault, a hundred lawyers deep."He tipped the tile toward he
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Reader Comments
Alex still have 3 more countries to conquer before his final battle against those who murdered his parents.
Total celebration... I think Sunshine the original author is back on the helm. Thank you Sunshine, welcome back.
Interesting chapter. Those family members deserve to die a thousand deaths for their greed and cruelty to Fabyella. Was Alex doing this to spare her feelings of guilt? Next chapter should clarify the situation, but I would rather have Alex out of that wormhole and back to Estoria.