I woke to the sound of rain.
Gray light leaked through the heavy curtains of my chamber. For a single, merciful second, my mind was empty. Then memory returned like a blade sliding between my ribs.
Seraphine bent over the couch.
Kael’s hands on her thick hips.
The wet sound of him claiming her again and again.
Her eyes meeting mine while her tongue hung out in ruined ahegao.
I sat up slowly. My body felt heavy, as if I had fought a war in my sleep. The system was already waiting, elegant silver text hovering quietly in the air.
[Good morning, young duke.]
[Host condition: Physically recovered. Mentally unstable.]
[Emotional residue remains high.]
[Duchess Seraphine Veyra current location: Her private office]
[Warlord Kael Draven current location: Same]
[Time elapsed since separation: 6 hours, 14 minutes]
They were still together. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
The knowledge sat in my stomach like cold iron.
I washed my face with water from the basin. The man looking back at me from the mirror had dark circles under his eyes and a tightness around his mouth that had not been there yesterday. I looked like someone who had watched something he should never have seen… and been changed by it.
[New Information Available]**
[During host’s rest, residual system traces from last night were analyzed.]
[Result: Warlord Kael Draven’s system is confirmed Sovereign-Class.]
[Direct confrontation: Suicidal.]
[Copy attempt: Instant death.]
[Recommendation remains unchanged: Begin with the weak.]
I dressed in simple black. No ducal insignia. Nothing that would draw attention. When I opened my door, a servant was already waiting in the corridor, eyes carefully lowered.
“My lord,” he said. “The Duchess instructed that you are to be informed… she will be occupied with the northern envoy until midday. Breakfast has been prepared in your solar if you wish it.”
Occupied.
The word was polite. Clean. It said nothing about the cum that had still been dripping down her thighs when she walked out of the room last night.
I dismissed the servant and walked in the opposite direction of my solar.
[Host trajectory detected: Leaving the main keep.]
[Destination prediction: Lower city markets]
[Approval: Granted]
[Reminder: Target only early-awakened systems. Those who gained power before their bodies or minds could handle it. They are unstable. Fragile. Easy to copy.]
[Do not be greedy. One successful copy is worth more than ten failed attempts that end in death.]
Rain continued to fall as I stepped out into the courtyard. The sky was the color of wet ash. Guards at the gate straightened when they saw me, but I waved them off. I did not want an escort. I did not want witnesses.
Blackthorn City’s lower markets already stank of wet wood, cheap ale, and desperation even in the early hours. Merchants shouted half-heartedly under soaked canvas awnings. Beggars huddled under eaves. And somewhere among them, according to my system, walked people who had awakened something they were never meant to carry.
People whose systems could be copied.
People who could make me stronger… without ever knowing they had been used.
I pulled my cloak tighter against the rain and stepped into the crowd.
Behind me, high in the keep, my stepmother and the warlord were still talking.
Ahead of me, the first step of a much darker path was waiting in the mud.
And for the first time since last night, the silence inside my head felt less like defeat… and more like the beginning of something dangerous