Emperor's harem: Transmigrated with SSS mana talent
Chapter 82: [Silence]

Chapter 82: [Silence]

"I thought we had a chance."

He wiped his eyes slowly, letting the silence stretch.

"But in the end... "

"...the devil used something—some kind of artifact. I don’t know what it was exactly. But the light..."

He raised a hand slightly, as if shielding himself from a memory too bright, too violent.

"It detonated. A wave of destruction that swallowed everything. Magic wards crumbled. The walls collapsed. I—"

He stopped, drawing a shaky breath.

"The last thing I remember was seeing a figure—clad in silver and crimson—charging toward me through the fire."

A murmur swept through the gathered nobles.

"That was the Divine General," Kael said.

"He pulled me from the rubble. He saved me when no one else could. Because..."

He lifted his chin slowly, eyes distant.

"Because I’m the Chosen One."

He didn’t say it with arrogance. He said it with sorrow.

"I woke up. Alone. My family... gone. My house, ashes. Everything that defined me—destroyed in one morning."

No one breathed.

Even the king leaned slightly forward in his throne, his frail hand curling on the armrest.

Kael opened one eye, slow and calculated.

Almost every face in the chamber was exactly how he wanted it—somber, sympathetic, believing.

Except two.

The King.

And Thamric.

Kael didn’t need magic to read them. The King’s sunken eyes still held the glint of doubt behind all that frailty.

And Thamric? Stone-faced, arms crossed, gaze razor-sharp.

They don’t buy it.

But it didn’t matter.

The King had lost his leash.

General Morien—his most loyal pawn—was dead.

Kael’s grin almost broke through his solemn mask.

You want to test me now, old man? Go ahead.

The King leaned forward, lips parting to ask something—perhaps to poke at the seams of Kael’s tale.

But Kael was faster.

He let the sorrow melt off his face like water from steel.

Replacing it with something sharper—resolve.

Yue narrowed her eyes from the shadows. What is he planning now?

Kael stepped forward, lifted his chin, and shouted—loud enough to shake the velvet silence of the court:

"Your Majesty! Are we just going to sit here—you—and let that devil do whatever he pleases?!"

Gasps.

Even the nobles who had been half-asleep jolted upright. Elara’s head snapped toward him. The guards stiffened.

Kael didn’t let the silence catch up.

"He destroyed my family. A noble house! One of the oldest in Velmora. And yet we act like this was some isolated tragedy?

Like it ends with me?"

He let his voice shake—not with fear, but with fire.

"He has ambitions. Far bigger than a single duchy. If we don’t act now, if we hesitate—this entire kingdom will burn."

The final word echoed through the hall like a prophecy.

Yue stared at him, wide-eyed.

He didn’t just dodge suspicion...

He’d rerouted it.

Turned fear into focus. And pointed it like a dagger—at a fabricated devil no one could see.

And the brilliance of it was: no one could disprove it either.

Kael’s breath hitched, prepared to roar again—to drag every eye and ear deeper into the fire he was stoking.

But a hand landed on his shoulder.

Firm.

Wet.

He tensed immediately and turned his head—slow, suspicious.

It was Master Caldus.

Tears streamed from the old professor’s reddened eyes, his robes trembling as he clutched Kael’s elegant court suit like a grieving widow.

"...You are right, Kael," Caldus choked, voice ragged.

"This devil is a threat we cannot ignore."

Kael grimaced.

Then frowned.

Then awkwardly, very awkwardly, tried to peel the man’s fingers off his sleeves with two fingers like they were slime.

He cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Master, but—"

Caldus touched him again—twice now.

Kael jolted and took five full steps back, just short of a stumble.

Why is this bastard so touchy? Don’t tell me—

He stopped that thought.

Did not want to finish it.

Master Caldus turned back to the throne, voice rising in indignation now, using Kael like a divine banner.

"I warned Your Majesty," he said, raising a trembling hand.

"When our elite students died at Mount Veilspire,"

Master Caldus continued, voice tightening with grief,

"—I begged the court to act."

He turned slowly, facing the gathered nobles. His aged face was pale, wrinkled with more than just age. His voice cracked.

"But now, after the tragedy at House Drenlor... after the last heir barely escaped with his life—" he gestured to Kael, who stood motionless, the perfect image of restrained pain and defiant resolve,

"—can we truly stand idle any longer?"

A tense silence followed.

The court began to murmur again, louder this time—discomfort, agreement, fear.

Kael didn’t even have to speak anymore.

The king raised one hand, slow but commanding.

"Silence."

The murmuring cut off like a blade through silk. Even the courtiers who had half-risen from their seats sank back down, eyes riveted to the throne.

"The matter of this... devil," the king said, voice roughened by illness but steady,

"has already been discussed—with the Headmaster of the Royal Academy."

Gasps stirred the court.

Kael’s eyes widened.

Why would he...?

The king continued, unfazed,

"After his own son, Eiden, was gravely injured during an encounter with the devil... the Academy agreed to take action."

A low wave of shock swept through the hall.

Kael’s thoughts raced. Eiden?

Then the Duchess of South stood. Her voice, usually sweet like court wine, came sharp and dry now.

"Your Majesty," she said, eyes narrowed, "why is the Royal Academy and its Headmaster so invested in this? They’ve ignored half our civil conflicts for decades. Why this?"

Everyone turned.

The question hung heavy in the air—because it was true.

The Royal Academy, a towering pillar of magic and knowledge, rarely involved itself in politics unless a royal’s life hung in the balance.

The king exhaled. A long, gravelled breath. Then:

"Because," he said slowly, gravely,

"the devil... bears the Godsbreaker Mark."

The silence snapped.

"AAAAAAaaaaaAAHHH!!"

The scream came from somewhere deep in the court ranks—a noblewoman, maybe—but it was soon swallowed by a rising wave of panic and gasps.

Chairs scraped. Mouths opened and shut without sound.

Kael froze.