Night fell over the Carter capital like an exhausted sigh.After the chaos, the fear, and the hunger, the castle glowed with a warmth that almost felt like a miracle.
When Lusian Douglas crossed the threshold of the main dining hall, the servants hurried to bow.
The grand chamber—high ceilings, softly glowing mana lamps, a freshly changed white tablecloth—fell silent at once.
The seat of honor, positioned directly across from the count and countess, had already been prepared.
For him.
Not out of courtesy.
Out of hierarchy.
He was the heir to the Duchy of Douglas. And with Lawrence's death, he would become the rightful duke. The military power he had brought with him—two thousand soldiers, each above the county's average level—effortlessly eclipsed Daniel Carter's twelve hundred.
There was no question who held the highest rank at that table.
Lusian accepted it naturally and took his seat.Emily sat at his right.Emma Pierce, the countess, across from him.Daniel beside her.And farther down, almost at the edge of the table like a forgotten ornament—Alejandro Jones.
Dinner began with hot dishes that felt like a luxury after the siege.Soft bread.Fragrant broth.Low-level monster meat prepared with techniques to neutralize excess mana.
The atmosphere was calm—almost unreal.
Countess Emma smiled sincerely, and from time to time cast Lusian a warm, almost maternal glance.
"Lord Lusian," she said, her voice full of gratitude, "I have no words to thank you for all you have done for our people… and for my daughter. Your arrival was a blessing sent from the heavens."
Lusian inclined his head gently.
"I merely fulfilled my duty, my lady. Carter territory is an ally of the Duchy of Douglas. I could not stand idle."
Emma placed a hand over her chest.
"And yet you acted with more heart than I expected. Emily told us how you protected your people on the road. Not many nobles would have done the same."
Emily nearly choked on her water, a flush rising to her cheeks.
Lusian allowed himself a small, honest smile.
"Nobles often forget that beneath the titles… we are all people. I couldn't leave them behind."
Emma sighed in admiration.
"My future son-in-law has a truly noble soul."
"Mother—" Emily began.
But the countess continued without giving her the chance.
"The Duchy of Douglas will be fortunate to have someone like you at its helm, Lord Lusian. People will follow a leader like that even into the deepest darkness."
Count Daniel Carter nodded. Though he tried to conceal it, an unexpected respect shone in his eyes. The city had been saved by this young man. That fact spoke louder than any protocol.
Farther down the table, Alejandro Jones gripped his utensils until his knuckles turned white.
Every word of gratitude struck him like poison.Every mention of Douglas nobility churned his stomach.
Future son-in-law.Noble leader.Blessing.
The words echoed in his mind like hammer blows.
While the countess smiled at Lusian as though he were a hero…
Alejandro saw something else.
A monster.
The Douglas name was the shadow that had destroyed his home—the echo of screams and blood that had left him without a family.
To see Emily smiling at him…To see his lord, the count, speaking to him with respect…To see the entire city celebrating him…
It made his blood boil.
A dark thought, almost imperceptible, cracked open inside him.
Perhaps they should have let the city fall.
He shuddered at the thought—yet he did not reject it.
He had never felt such rage.
He had never wanted so desperately for the world to be wrong.
The dining hall doors closed softly behind Lusian. The servants dispersed like trained shadows; the atmosphere, once warm and ceremonial, turned heavy.
Alejandro remained seated, fists clenched on his knees. Emily, who had just bid her fiancé farewell with a calm smile, noticed the familiar rigidity in him—the look he always wore when he was about to lose his composure.
"Alejandro…" she began with a sigh. "Can we talk?"
He did not answer. He simply stood and walked toward the terrace along the side corridor. Emily followed. Only when they were out of earshot of the staff did he speak.
"Don't you see?" he burst out, his voice low but trembling. "You shouldn't trust him so easily!"
Emily closed her eyes briefly. She had expected this.
"Alejandro," she said gently but firmly, "there's no reason to hate him. Lusian was a child when what happened to your parents occurred. It's very likely he doesn't even know."
Alejandro turned toward her, eyes burning with frustration.
"Are you really saying that? You?" He pressed a hand to his chest as if it hurt. "Emily, we've been friends since we could barely walk. You and I. Always together. Always supporting each other. And now… you're defending him?"
Emily remained calm, though sadness filled her gaze.
"I'm being fair," she replied. "And honest with you."
Alejandro clicked his tongue, looking away to hide the wound.
"So our friendship is worth less than a title," he muttered bitterly. "Less than that perfect heir."
The air tightened. Emily stepped closer.
"Alejandro… Lusian is my fiancé. I can't—and I won't—turn against him just to make you feel better." She spoke steadily, but pain edged every word. "I don't want our friendship to end. You matter to me. You know that. But if you force me to choose…"
She took a breath, swallowing the knot forming in her throat.
"I won't have a choice. Because Lusian will be my husband."
Alejandro looked at her as though the ground beneath him had shattered.
"So that's it," he whispered, voice breaking.
"That's it," she confirmed softly, lowering her eyes.
A long silence stretched between them—filled with shared childhood memories, secret laughter, whispered confidences… and a future that no longer belonged to them.
At last, Alejandro stepped back.
"I understand," he said, without understanding at all. "Don't worry, Emily. I… won't trouble you with this again."
He turned away.
Emily did not stop him. She knew that if she did, it would only make things worse.
As Alejandro walked down the corridor, his shadow seemed smaller.
In the game, this was the moment when the crack first formed—the one that would, years later, lead him to stand beside a demonized Lusian with Emily, as heroes blessed by light and fire.
But now…
That future was being rewritten.
And no one knew how it would end.
Lusian walked alongside Count Daniel atop the newly reinforced outer wall. Adele followed a few steps behind, silent as a shadow. Beside her, the white tiger—now the size of a large adult feline, its blue eyes like shards of ice—watched the surroundings with near-human awareness.
Under Lusian's direction, the city was transforming at a speed never seen before.
A second wall was rising several meters beyond the first—thick and solid, built from freshly cut stone. Between the two fortifications, workers dug a deep trench that would soon be filled with water diverted from the river.
"I never imagined we would fortify the city to this extent…" the count murmured. Relief and an unspoken fear mingled in his voice.
Emily stood nearby, watching Lusian direct engineers, foremen, and soldiers with unshakable certainty.
"Will it work?" she asked, approaching him.
"Nothing stops a high-level monster forever," he replied calmly. "But we can delay them. Survival is a matter of time… and preparation."
Emily studied him for a long moment.
There was something unsettling in his conviction—in the way he spoke of the future as if he had already witnessed it.
"If the first wall falls, the second will give us room to maneuver," Lusian continued, marking with chalk where anchors and reinforcements would be placed. "It's not perfect… but it will increase our chances."
Soldiers and peasants worked day and night. The pounding of hammers, the creaking of timber, the shouted coordination filled the air.
Then the world trembled.
BOOM.
A dull explosion echoed in the distance.
Moments later came the frantic gallop of horses.
A patrol burst through the dusty road, racing through the main gate at full speed. The men's armor was scratched and bloodstained. One could barely remain mounted.
"Make way! Urgent report for the lord of the territory!" the captain shouted.
Lusian and the count descended from the wall just as the patrol dismounted in haste. The captain, pale and gasping, dropped to his knees before his lord.
"My lord… new beasts have appeared. They're not like last week's. These are… far higher level."
A chill ran down the count's spine.
"How much higher?" he asked, striving for composure.
The captain looked up.
The terror in his eyes erased any doubt.
"Between level fifty-five and sixty, my lord. And it wasn't just one… there were many. Too many. As if… as if the forest had expelled them."
Silence thickened, suffocating.
Lusian closed his eyes for a brief moment.
This was how it had begun in the game.
The prelude to global collapse.
"My lord," he said at last, his tone so serious it froze the blood of those present. "The calamity has only just begun."
Adele tightened her jaw. Her tiger growled softly, fur bristling as if sensing danger beyond the trees.
"We must prepare the troops," Lusian continued. "And evacuate anyone outside the walls immediately. We are not facing ordinary monsters… this is only the beginning."
The count and Emily exchanged a look.
The fragile peace of Carter territory was over.