His mother, Concubine Momo, was no better equipped to face the court's malice. She was gentle, painfully shy, shrinking from conflict. Yet King Girsal had loved her in his own quiet way. Vatium could still recall the rare moments his father would sit beside her, speaking softly.
But affection from a king wasn't protection.
Not in a place like Sandeph.
And then came *the incident*.
A moment of betrayal so profound it tore the last threads of innocence from him. It wasn't the pain that changed him but the revelation—that mercy in the face of cruelty was not strength. It was an invitation to be crushed, to be forgotten.
He had become the Demon King after that, not through conquest but desperation. The demons, fractured and leaderless after the death of their previous tyrant, had been on the brink of collapse. And he had led them not with fear, but with kindness—believing, in his naivety, that compassion could shape a better world.
