Chapter Twenty-Three

Sora begins a wary morning in Rahway, maintaining calm to flush out a traitor while noting the palace’s likely eavesdroppers. At breakfast with Gambria, Fallador, Aeri, Mikail, Royo, and Rune, tension lingers from last night’s assassins, whose bodies Rune’s guards found already dead. The group eats cautiously while exchanging formalities.

Rune delivers major news: Queen Quilimar and General Vikal live; Khitan has made peace with Wei; the priest king of Wei is dead and his son rules; Bay Chin and the Yusan palace guard general are dead; King Joon’s status remains unconfirmed. The table toasts the fallen Wei king, and Sora catches a fleeting, conspiratorial glance between Rune and Fallador, shifting her suspicion of the traitor from Gambria to Fallador.

Pressed on strategy, Rune declares he will march on Tamneki, join forces with any surviving Joon to defeat Seok, then marry Princess Naerium and quietly eliminate Joon afterward. The plan alarms the group, especially given their own death sentences under Joon, but Rune argues shared enemies justify temporary alliances.

Sora challenges Rune about his past comment on “obvious” motives. Rune recounts overlapping noble rivalries and reveals Olivia of Pact, now Countess of Gain, was his fiancée before marrying Seok, pointedly noting the timing of her marriage and Tiyung’s only-child status. He implies he, not Seok, fathered Tiyung, leaving Sora reeling and the party’s political calculus profoundly unsettled.