Home / Fantasy / Vengeance of The Reborn Heir / The Drunkard’s Shadow
The Drunkard’s Shadow
Author: Cindy Chen
last update2025-11-21 18:09:13

Morning light seeped weakly through the narrow windows of Elder Stoneclaw’s quarters. Lucien Cross arrived earlier than usual, steps steady despite the turmoil that had plagued him the night before.

He opened the door quietly.

Elder Stoneclaw was—unsurprisingly—still slumped on the sofa, a half-empty bottle in hand. His breath was laced heavily with alcohol, but unlike the previous days, there was an empty dinner bowl beside him.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

‘He ate something’, he thought.

‘That means he’s not entirely hopeless today.’

A small, practical calculation flickered in his mind.

If Stoneclaw could eat, then Stoneclaw could drink more.

If Stoneclaw drank more… perhaps his guard would slip further.

Lucien rolled his sleeves and began cleaning again.

He swept the floor, wiped dust from shelves, folded discarded robes, aired out the room, and finally returned to the kitchenette, where he prepared another simple meal and a restorative soup, something mild enough for a drunk to tolerat
Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Latest Chapter

  • The Vice Principal’s Calculation

    Aveline Westmere stood at the topmost balcony of her tower, the moon of Arken heavy and silver behind drifting clouds. Below, the academy grounds simmered with unrest. Crystals vibrated with incoming transmissions. Emergency banners flickered along the Ministry’s relay channels. Teachers whispered nervously in hallways. Administrators ran without composure.Everything was chaotic.Aveline… was pleased.She leaned lightly against the railing, watching the lights of the central administrative wing where Principal Voss was currently being cornered by furious parents. Their demands echoed through the night in rising waves:“Why did our children not have proper protection?”“You promised this was a controlled exam!”“Explain why Rank 7 and Rank 8 beasts appeared!”“We want Dorrian Blackthorne! Not you— YOU let this happen!”The echoes carried all the way up the tower.Aveline smiled faintly.“Poor Voss,” she murmured. “He was never built for crisis.”Her eyes narrowed, cool and thoughtful.

  • The Strike That Should Not Be

    The battlefield was still trembling from the impact. Smoke curled from shattered stone, and the smell of ionized earth clung heavily to the air. Soldiers rushed to pull the wounded to safety. Students crouched behind makeshift barriers, eyes still wide from the sight of the golden arc that had descended like judgment.Everyone knew that technique.Everyone had seen Ronan Crowne use it.But Ronan wasn’t here.Inside the command tent, the atmosphere crackled with disbelief.“Rewind it again.”The hologram replayed the moment the Rank 7 beast lunged toward Tristan—only to be blasted off its path by a perfect golden cleave. The arc was unmistakable. Clean. Controlled. A psionic blade made of condensed essence.Exactly like Ronan Crowne’s.The commanding officer clenched his jaw.“This shouldn’t be possible.”One lieutenant answered carefully:“Unless Crowne projected the strike from isolation.”A murmur spread through the room.Long-range psionic projection—kilometers away—was an ability

  • When Control Breaks

    The battlefield did not descend into chaos because of negligence. It descended because even preparation had limits.After the disaster of the previous day, the military response had been recalibrated. Rank 8 officers were deployed far closer to the shelters, forming overlapping defensive lines. Mobile suppression squads patrolled the immediate zone around the students. Barrier pylons were reinforced, layered twice instead of once, and evacuation routes were marked and guarded.This time, no one underestimated the threat.And yet—The Rank 7 beast did not attack as expected.Instead of charging directly into the defensive formation, the massive creature halted near the perimeter and released a low, resonant roar. The sound was not loud, but it vibrated through the ground like a tuning fork struck against the planet itself. The air warped. Energy readings spiked wildly.Then the terrain answered.The ground cracked.Not outward—downward.A chain of fissures tore through the soil, ruptur

  • A Stage of Silence

    The announcement came quietly, without ceremony.“Attention all examinees,” the commanding officer’s voice echoed through the camp’s internal channel. “Extraction aircraft will experience a delay of several hours. Remain within shelter zones until further notice.”The reaction was immediate—but muted.Confusion rippled through the shelters. Concern followed. But panic did not. After two brutal days, most students were too exhausted to question logistics. They trusted the military. They trusted the system.What none of them knew, was that the aircraft was not delayed.It hovered less than fifty kilometers away, engines idle, orders locked.Only a handful of officials inside the Ministry of Education knew the truth.This was not delay.It was staging.Within the command tent, senior military officers exchanged restrained glances. No one questioned the directive openly, but the unease was there.The perimeter sensors were stable. No significant rift fluctuations. No mass surge.“Odd timi

  • The Weight of Balance

    The rumors did not arrive at the Ministry of Education as screams or accusations.They arrived as questions.Polite.Carefully phrased.Wrapped in concern and courtesy.By midday, Dorrian Blackthorne had received no fewer than seven formal inquiries—from noble families, military observers, and educational boards across Arken.Each message sounded different.But the meaning beneath them all was the same.Is Ronan Crowne truly fit to stand where he stands?Is his presence destabilizing the examination?Is the Ministry certain that no greater danger is being concealed?Dorrian stood alone in his private office, hands resting on the edge of his desk, eyes fixed on the hovering projection of the Frontier battlefield. The feed had been paused on a single frame—Ronan Crowne standing amid fallen terrain, silver aura faint but steady.A symbol of control.Or… a symbol of danger.Dorrian exhaled slowly.“They move fast,” he murmured.He did not need to ask who. The pattern was familiar. He had

  • Bait for the Wolves

    The city of Thalara glowed beneath layers of light and illusion, its towering spires untouched by the blood and chaos unfolding at the Outer Frontier. Inside one of the older estates near the western quarter, Benedric Sable stood alone before a wall of projection screens, his hands clasped behind his back.The live broadcast from the examination zone replayed again and again.Explosions. Beast roars.Soldiers shouting. Students screaming.And at the center of it all—Ronan Crowne.Benedric’s lips slowly curved upward.It was not the smile of joy. Nor the smile of pride.It was the smile of vindication.“So,” he murmured calmly, “you finally became a problem.”The official broadcast was careful. The language was sanitized. The military commentators spoke of unexpected escalation, emergency intervention, and heroic resistance. They praised discipline. They praised bravery. They praised control.But Benedric did not listen to official words.He listened to whispers.And despite House Sab

More Chapter
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App