Chapter 996: [996] : The Situation

The king’s instinct told him something was wrong before his eyes finished processing the scene.

Not wrong in a dangerous way—wrong in a way he couldn’t name. The young man standing in the middle of his plaza, holding both his daughters like it was the most natural thing in the world, gave off something that made the hairs on the back of the king’s neck stand up. Not malice. Not aggression. Something older and quieter and considerably more unsettling than either.

Whatever that was, the man had walked into the imperial capital holding his daughters. That was reason enough.

"He wants to die," the king muttered, "then we won’t stop him."

Shin, for his part, had just realized his Yomotsu Hirasaka had overshot by a considerable margin.

’I was aiming for the city. This is the palace square. Directly in front of what appears to be a very large religious gathering. And those are soldiers.’

Shin glanced down at the two of them. "You can let go now. We made it."

Lucy released him and looked around, then her face lit up.

"Father’s here..." She stopped. "Wait. This is the Spirit Plaza. We’re inside the palace grounds." She turned to Shin with wide eyes. "You aimed for the capital and landed directly in the royal square. Do you understand how precise that is?"

"Lucky shot," Shin said.

"You’re incredible," Lucy said.

"You’re also very comfortable with grabbing onto people," Alice said, from his other side, straightening her coat.

Before Shin could respond to that, Lucy spotted the figure pushing through the crowd toward them—old, white-haired, moving with the urgency of someone who had forgotten they were old.

"FATHER!" she called, and waved.

The king stopped dead.

’My daughter has never waved at me in her life.’

He had not seen that smile in—he could not actually remember the last time he had seen that smile. Somewhere under all the anger he’d been building toward the man holding her, something went very soft and very quiet.

He raised one hand to signal the soldiers back.

"Give me a moment."

He crossed the remaining distance alone.

"Lucy." His voice came out rougher than he intended. "How did you get here? Was that spatial magic just now?"

"It was," she said, still smiling. "He brought us."

The king looked at Shin. Shin looked back at him.

"We’ll get to that," the king said, and turned back to Lucy. "I’ve been looking for you. I want you to listen to me carefully." He paused, choosing his words with visible effort. "I’m releasing you. You and Alice both. Take whatever you want from the treasury. Go somewhere safe. Don’t come back."

He said it quietly, without drama, like a man who had rehearsed it enough times that the words had gone flat.

Shin felt Alice go still beside him.

The king hadn’t looked at her yet. He was keeping his eyes on Lucy, very deliberately, in the way people do when they’re not ready for the thing they actually need to face.

Shin stepped forward. "Your Majesty."

The king’s eyes moved to him—sharp, assessing, not hostile yet but not far from it.

"I’m the one who brought them here," Shin said. "I’m also the one who killed two of your Four Heavenly Kings. Before you decide what to do with me, there’s something you should hear."

The king studied him for a long moment.

"You’re young..." he said finally, which was not what Shin expected.

"I’ve heard that."

"You don’t feel like anything I’ve encountered before." The king’s eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you?"

"Someone who can fix at least three of your current problems," Shin said. "Starting with your wife."

Silence.

The king’s expression didn’t change. But something behind his eyes did.

"That’s a significant claim," he said, very carefully. ℴ

"I know."

"If you’re lying to me—"

"Ask your daughter." Shin nodded toward Alice. "Either one."

The king finally turned to look at Alice—fully, for the first time since she’d arrived. She was taller than he remembered. Harder around the edges in some ways, softer in others. She looked like her mother in ways that hit him somewhere he hadn’t braced for.

Alice met his gaze and held it.

For a long moment neither of them spoke.

The king’s shoulders dropped—not in defeat, but in the way that happens when someone who has been holding something for years finally puts it down.

"You came back," he said.

"I came back," she said. Her voice was steady. Mostly.

"ALICE—"

"Don’t." She shook her head once. "There’s too much to say and this isn’t the place for it." She glanced around at the plaza—the gathered crowd, the soldiers, the enormous carved face of the Spirit King watching from above. "But I came back. That means something."

The king pressed one hand over his mouth for a moment, then dropped it.

"It means everything," he said quietly.

He looked at Shin again. The assessment in his eyes had shifted—still cautious, still measuring, but without the edge it had carried before.

"You said you could revive my wife."

"Yes."

"And you said my daughters would vouch for you."

"Yes."

The king was quiet for a moment.

"Then say what you came to say," he said. "All of it. If even half of it is true—" He stopped. Let the end of the sentence go. "I’m listening."

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