The Marshal Unleashed at Midnight

The rooftop banquet hall of the Regent Grand Hotel in Goldhaven.

The room sat in silence. Several high-ranking officers in full military dress held themselves rigid, every pair of eyes fixed on the entrance.

"All floors secured!"

"Perimeter under continuous watch!"

"Marshal Vance has entered the hotel!"

The colonel took in the reports and rose first, straightening his jacket before striding toward the door.

Out in the corridor, armed soldiers lined the walls, rifles ready.

A soft chime sounded. The elevator doors slid open, and every head turned. A young man stepped out in a tailored suit, his eyes cold as winter starlight, his unhurried certainty pressing down on the room like a physical weight. No one needed to be told who he was.

"Attention, all ranks! Salute!"

The colonel's eyes reddened as he snapped into a perfect military salute. "Welcome back, Marshal Vance!"

"Welcome back, Marshal Vance!"

Every soldier stood at attention, right hands rising as one, faces lit with reverence.

The legend of the battlefield, the man tens of thousands of soldiers had staked their faith on, had finally come home.

"Tiger, all of you. It has been a long time."

Adrian Vance gave a faint nod, his expression unreadable, and cut through the crowd toward the banquet hall.

"Marshal, the Vance family sent a representative from Kingsholme. They wish to speak with you about family matters."

Tiger fell into step behind him, voice lowered. "They're waiting next door. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them to get out."

The four words came without mercy, and a flicker of cold light passed through Adrian's eyes.

Thirteen years had passed, and that clan, bound to him by blood yet a thousand miles away, still turned his stomach: calculating, self-serving, always ready to grovel before whoever held power.

Back then, because his elder brother was the firstborn son and the family's chosen heir, fourteen-year-old Adrian had been discarded, forced to take the blame for a crime that was never his, and locked away for three years. When he walked free, he left for the frontier and spent five years clawing through gunfire and blood until he became the God of War, a man who commanded the armed forces and whose word carried weight across all of Valdoria.

The Vance family had thrown him away and taught him how ugly people could be. Now that he stood at the peak of power, they wanted to crawl back and bask in his reflected glory.

That was wishful thinking.

"Today is my wedding day," Adrian said, his voice flat. "I won't waste my temper on them. Spilling blood on a day like this would be bad luck."

He closed his fingers around the split pendant at his chest, a thin smile on his lips. "Pass this along. I have no ties left to the Vance family. If they come sniffing around again, don't expect me to hold back."

"Understood!"

Tiger left at once and returned moments later. "Marshal, it's handled."

"Good." Adrian inclined his head. "How are preparations for the Marshal's Return Gala coming along?"

"It's set for three days from now."

Tiger held out a guest list with both hands. "These are the invited guests. The invitations are being delivered as we speak."

"Well done." A faint curve touched the corner of Adrian's mouth. "Don't forget seats of honor for the Ashford family. I want Camille Ashford to see with her own eyes that the man she's marrying is no ordinary nobody."

Just the mention of her name softened the hard edges of his expression.

That girl had saved him ten years ago, the day he walked out of prison with nothing. She had fed him, clothed him, given him money to survive. Without Camille, there would be no Adrian standing here today.

The split pendant she pressed into his hand when they parted, half of a single piece, was the one thing he carried through every battle, pulling him back from the edge more times than he could count.

Once he rose to become supreme commander, Adrian had moved without pause, crushing the border conflicts that had plagued Valdoria for years and signing the Five-Year Compact with the surrounding nations. In exchange for five years of his own absence, he had won Valdoria the right to compete on equal footing in international markets.

From that day on, the world lost its God of War, and Goldhaven gained an ordinary man hopelessly devoted to winning Camille's heart.

Tonight at midnight, the Five-Year Compact would expire, and Adrian would reclaim everything that was rightfully his.

None of it was what made his pulse quicken. What set his heart racing was far simpler: today was his wedding day with Camille.

"The Ashford family must really be something, to receive an invitation to the Marshal's Return Gala!"

"They say only the top tier get to attend. The Ashford family is the only group of ordinary people invited!"

"Did you see that officer who delivered the invitation? Two bars, three stars. That's a full colonel, no less..."

The wedding hall buzzed with gossip, all of it circling back to what the guests had just seen.

No one had expected a squad of soldiers in crisp uniforms to march into a wedding and hand the bride's family an invitation bearing the name of Marshal Vance, the God of War of Valdoria.

Who in this country didn't know that name? In power and wealth, no one stood above him, and for the Ashford family to catch his notice was almost beyond belief.

As the guests swallowed their envy, their attention turned to the absent groom. Marrying into this fortune, wasn't he about to walk into the bargain of a lifetime? Dumb luck and a rich bride, both landing in his lap.

In the bride's room, Camille's mother, Deborah Ashford, held the invitation in both hands, eyes shining. "Camille, we're about to make it big. Once we attend the Marshal's Return Gala, every prominent family in Goldhaven will start looking at us differently."

"That's right, Mom." Camille stood in her gown, chin lifted, preening like a peacock handed a crown. "We've practically got one foot in high society. If we build the right connections now, our family might climb all the way to the top."

"Exactly, exactly." Deborah nodded along, then paused, a frown creasing her face. "If you weren't marrying that penniless nobody today, I could have found you a proper catch with real money behind him. Thirty thousand dollars for a bride price, and he thought that was enough to take a daughter of the Ashford family? Doesn't he have any shame?"

The more she turned it over, the more it felt like a loss, until she clapped her hands once. "I know what we'll do. When he gets here, we tell him we need another fifty thousand. Say it's tradition back home.

"It took him nearly half a month just to scrape together that thirty thousand. There's no way he can produce fifty more on short notice. So you tell him straight: no money, no wedding. Every day we stall is a day in our favor.

"And if by some miracle he does come up with it, eighty thousand isn't nothing either. After that, I'll find a way to help you cut him loose. My daughter wasn't born to marry some broke, spineless nobody."

Camille turned to her mother with a sweet, obliging smile. "Mom, whatever you say."

By the time Adrian arrived, breathless, the main hall was alive with chatter. The bride's chamber had gone cold and quiet.

"Camille. Sorry to keep you waiting."

A warm smile spread across his face as he crossed the room, bouquet in hand. "Let's go. The ceremony's about to start."

"Not so fast."

Deborah's voice cut through the room, sharp and smug. "Adrian, if you want to marry my daughter, you'll need to come up with another fifty thousand for the Ashford family."

"Fifty thousand?"

Adrian's brow creased.

The amount meant nothing to him under ordinary circumstances. But until midnight, every asset he owned stayed frozen under the terms of the Five-Year Compact, and producing that kind of money on short notice put him in an awkward spot.

"What, is that too much for you?" Deborah shot him a cold, disdainful look. "I suppose you haven't heard. Marshal Vance himself just sent us an invitation to the Marshal's Return Gala. The Ashford family is about to become one of the great houses of Goldhaven. And you think that measly bride price is enough to marry into a family like ours? Are you trying to humiliate us? Showing up this broke and expecting everyone to laugh at us."

Adrian said nothing.

A few invitations, and her whole attitude had flipped overnight, sneering at the man she was about to call her son-in-law.

Using Marshal Vance's name to puff herself up in front of him. She had no idea that the man standing before her was Marshal Vance himself.