Location: Imperial Capital – Solaria
The carriage rumbled through the massive golden gates of the Imperial Capital, revealing a city that pulsed with life, ambition, and barely hidden malice.
Towering spires gleamed under the sun, rivers of carriages flooded the cobblestone streets, and banners bearing the Imperial Phoenix snapped in the wind.
Kael leaned slightly out of the window, his sharp eyes observing everything.
"The city smiles," he murmured, "but its heart is rotten."
The girls exchanged tense glances.Even without magic, they could feel it — the suffocating pressure, the endless schemes lurking behind every beautiful facade.
Welcome Committee… or Assassins?
As the carriage neared the Imperial Palace, a "welcome committee" awaited.
A group of nobles, wearing forced smiles, bowed low.
At their head stood Prince Caldris Solaris — Kael's cousin and one of the prime contenders for the throne.
He was handsome, sharp-eyed, and every inch the perfect nobleman… on the surface.
"Cousin Kael," Caldris said smoothly. "Welcome back to Solaria. We've all missed you terribly."
Behind him, the other princes and princesses whispered, smirked, and exchanged veiled glances.
Some looked at Kael with naked hostility.
Some with mocking pity.
Some with thinly veiled fear.
Kael knew instantly: he was walking into a battlefield bloodier than any dungeon.
The Imperial Court — A Den of Vipers
That night, at the Imperial Banquet, the true games began.
Nobles praised Kael to his face and plotted his ruin behind his back.
Servants offered poisoned wine with sweet smiles.
Beautiful noble ladies flirted openly — their intentions anything but pure.
Zara, disguised as his bodyguard, shattered a poisoned dagger with her sword.
Mira quietly sealed the banquet hall with layered barriers.
Velcia "accidentally" spilled wine on a duchess plotting against Kael.
Selene gathered blackmail material at lightning speed.
Evelyne gently healed Kael from minor poison traces—before anyone even noticed.
Kael merely smiled through it all, perfectly calm.
They thought he was a naive prince.But he was a former god who had survived the destruction of worlds.
"Let them dance," Kael thought."When they grow tired, I'll burn the stage down."