"What do you want, Liliana?"
She didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
Because in that silence—
I already knew:
She wasn't here for closure.
She was here for war.
Her dirty blonde hair now cascaded down her shoulders. Her knuckles lightly bruised from winning her spar. She just glared.
Not at me though. At Andrea.
There were two people besides her.
Next to her was a lean boy with bright azure hair and sharp purple eyes, smirking like he already knew something I didn't. His gaze dragged up and down, sizing me up.
On the other side of Liliana, much closer to her was a much taller boy— broad-shouldered, toned muscles pressing against a white compression shirt. Every step flexed his frame—like his body was engineered for intimidation.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous.
His spiky auburn hair wafted lightly with the gentle breeze. But there was one problem. He glared at me with full intensity as if he was going to set me alight with his gaze.
They moved in eerie sync, stopping just a few paces away—like a unit. A statement.
Blankly I looked up at them. Tilting my head in curiosity.
"Are you just going to stand there?"
No reply. I only intensified their gazes.
Suddenly Andrea got up in a hurry. To my abject horror— Andrea bowed to the red-haired guy?
I BEG YOUR FINEST FUCKING PARDON?!
Her expression was forcefully blank. I could feel the fear dripping from every movement. She lightly bit her lips— her jaw clenched, her hands lightly trembling.
I don't know why—
…But I feel like I'm about to snap.
I didn't get up. I just stared incredulously at what Andrea was doing. The rest didn't matter. Only her.
"Aren't you going to bow to your King." The azure-haired boy spoke with a low tone.
My jaw clenched tight. My neck cracked as I turned, a vein throbbing at my temple. My eyes dilated with the rage boiling within the depths of my soul.
"What…"
"What the FUCK did you just say?!"
I slowly stood up.
Who the fuck were they to make me bow. To a so-called King? This King? I'm not some lowly fucking servant. I don't bow to tyrants. Who the fuck does he think he is. I want to kill him right here and now.
"What—"
"Kerrigan please fucking stop and bow… PLEASE" Andrea cut me off. Begging me— her voice riddled with tremors.
What…
I've bowed to others for as long as I know.
I'm not going back to the coward I once was.
I'm not going back to being a servant.
A sycophant.
A SLAVE.
I'd rather fucking die.
I shot Andrea a cold glare for what she said. Her eyes momentarily widened yet were still begging me to bow. I clenched my fists until my nails broke skin. If they want a slave, they picked the wrong fucking boy.
The red-haired fucker's glare sharpened, burning hotter with every breath. A soft crimson hue emanated from his eyes— the smirk on the azure-haired boy grew wider.
"You should listen to the Regent here. She's the smart—"
"Shut the fuck up."
I cut the blue-hair off.
The hum of static curled in my ears. Rage clawed at my skull. His smirk faltered before widening into a malevolent smile— mumbling.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
The red haired 'King' took a step forward in front of me. It didn't help that he was taller too. Looking down on me— his voice reverberated in my eardrums.
"Do you know who I am?"
"No. Should I?" I retorted.
He furrowed his brows. The glow of his eyes intensified as he leaned closer— invading my personal space.
"I am Maximus Macarthur Magnolias, heir to the great Magnolias clan. I am ranked 1 in the first-years. I am the one they call King. My friend beside me is ranked 5, the Marquis, Carleon Kesseth."
I stared blankly at him.
So this is the fabled King.
So is this how Macbeth felt.
I tilted my head as my eyes widened incredulously.
"Neat. Want a cookie?"
Corvus who sat quietly on my shoulder the entire time glared at Maximus. Snarling as he bore his fangs.
[Papa… can I bite his face off?]
I would love for that to happen but not now.
Maximus' brows furrowed in annoyance. As if I was some fucking pest in front of his eyes. Carleon calmly stepped forward— his eyes narrowing with disgust.
SLAP!
Suddenly I found my head being snapped to the side. A painful sting plagued my cheek.
Did Carleon just slap me?!
"Is that how you speak to your King you fucking nameless mutt!"
My mind went blank as my torso twisted— coiling with power. My hand curled into an impossibly tight fist now ripping towards Carleon's jaw.
"That's enough from you, Kerrigan." Maximus uttered with glare as if my name was foul on his tongue. Suddenly he exerted the full pressure of his mana.
WHAT THE—?!
My knees buckled. The pressure hit like a mountain—crushing, suffocating. My knees dug into the soil with intensity. My vision momentarily darkened as the air was sucked out of my lungs— my jaw went slack as a bead of phlegm shot out.
Corvus passed out instantly— his tiny body collapsing onto the soil below.
Why… Why is his pressure…
So powerful…
Andrea gasped— her eyes widening in horror.
"Kerrig—"
Slap!
A harsh slap cut the insult short. Her body slammed into the dirt with a sickening thud—then bounced once, like a ragdoll hurled by fate. Pain flared up her spine before she even stopped moving.
My eyes widened as instinctively I tried to reach out for her.
"No you don't." Maximus spoke dangerously.
The weight doubled. Tripled. I screamed soundlessly as my ribs groaned and my arms trembled.
MOVE.
Please—move.
Don't freeze again. Don't be that scared little boy.
They'll hurt her. They'll hurt you.
MOVE, GODDAMN IT!
Andrea coughed like an injured animal— a bead of blood running down her chin as she looked up at her attacker. Liliana bore her gaze onto her soul with an apathetic malice.
"You're supposed to be my friend."
"No… My best friend."
"Yet after this wretch shamed me in front of many…"
"You just watched Andrea. Then you blamed me. And now…"
"You think you're loved? Cherished?"
"All it took was a few moans and a kiss for you to crawl like a bitch in heat."
Andrea pressed her quivering lips together to smother the sob that welled in her throat. It felt like a poison had taken root in her stomach , seeping through her veins and spreading bile to the back of her throat. She tried to explain the truth.
"Lilly, you know wh—"
"Don't hit me with that bullshit Andrea!" Liliana cut her off.
"Not wanting to be powerful."
"Not wanting to be revered."
"Are you fucking JOKING? Who wouldn't want that."
"Do you know how many people would kill—kill—their families to have what you have?"
"Yet like an ungrateful little bitch, you just want to throw it away!"
"To be with some fucking dog like him?"
Andrea tried to get up.
She tried to speak.
To plead.
Yet…
Liliana's leg swept out in a vicious arc. Andrea's head snapped sideways. A bruise immediately welting across her pale cheek in the shape of a heel.
"STOP IT!"
A guttural scream tore from my throat. I thrashed, pathetically, beneath the mana storm pinning me down. Bones groaned. Muscles screamed. But my body—my useless body—wouldn't move.
Students began to besiege us— watching with a sadistic gleam. A few cheers rang out.
"Yeah! Kill him!"
"Put him in his place King!"
"Princess discipline that fucking slut of a Regent!"
Shut up!
Carleon's boot slammed into the underside of my jaw.
CRACK.
My ears rang. Laughter followed. My face smashed into the dirt. I tasted iron.
And as I looked up—
Andrea.
Dragged by her hair like an animal. Liliana's fingers wrapped tight in her short strands, parading her for all to see.
"Is this what you wanted?" she snarled.
"To be hated?"
"Well congratulations—you got it now, bitch!"
"STOP! PLEASE STOP!"
I begged—screamed—but no one moved.
No one listened.
Andrea didn't resist. Couldn't. She teetered on the brink of unconsciousness, tears brimming but never falling.
And then—
"Liliana," Maximus said, cold and calm.
"That's enough."
A switch flipped in Liliana. The mad bitch became tame. She nodded obediently to Maximus as she glared at Andrea's bloodied face.
Maximus' gaze fell on me.
He crouched— gripping me by the hair to make me look at him.
I glared at him.
I wasn't hiding it.
No poker-face.
No apathy.
I just…
Wanted to kill somebody.
He just tilted his head, his expression stoic.
"Do you now know what you're worth… Kerrigan?"
I wanted to tear his jaw off and bludgeon his fucking skull with it. I wanted to flay his skin. Yet I trembled— I felt weak. He was like him…
Like Richard.
Flashing images of Richard appeared before me. My eyes dilated with terror, my slack jaw trembling.
Maximus let out a snort as he smashed my face into the ground with bone-breaking force. My nose snapped sideways— blood spilling like a leaking bucket.
Maximus stood up and pressed my face in with the sole of his trainer. He let out a fake smile.
"What on earth did Mr.Horton see in you?"
"You're pathetic. Trembling before a greater power."
He grinded my skull against the coarse dirt— intensifying the agony as well as the cheers.
"At least you know where you belong."
Snap!
Something snapped.
Something inside me.
Why am I scared?
Why am I so weak?
I can't submit.
I'll be proving them right!
I'll be proving Richard right…
NO!
NO MORE!
"SHUT—the FU—ck UP!" I wailed incoherently as I swatted his foot off my skull with every drop of power I had.
Maximus' lightly stumbled back. Regaining his balance his stoic demeanor faltered— Maximus's voice dripped with cold amusement as his mana surged again—this time without restraint.
"Even a dog won't learn his lesson the first time."
A wave of force detonated outward, flattening the grass, ripping up chunks of earth, and driving a sickening crack through my ribcage.
Pain.
So much pain.
My arms bent inward, twitching. My right femur splintered. Blood vessels in my chest exploded—red splotching my skin like a twisted galaxy. My ears ruptured. My eyes—white one moment, bloody whirlpools the next.
Still, I didn't fall.
I couldn't.
Because if I fell now…
I'd never stand again.
I held onto my consciousness like a lifeline. I wasn't going to relent. I wasn't going to let chains of my past bind me again. I won't be who I used to be.
I WON'T BE THE PATHETIC PIECE OF CRAP RICHARD TORMENTED.
"Tch, still defiant." Maximus tilted his head, he muttered, more confused than angry. "I'll show the true power of a king."
The pressure quintupled.
My vision darkened.
My bones cracked grotesquely— my knees buckled. I never let it touch the ground.
I grit my teeth painfully, desperately clinging on.
Blood bled from every orifice of my head.
I couldn't hear anything.
I couldn't taste anything.
I couldn't smell anything.
My knuckles cracked backward, twisted. My spine groaned like an old tree under the storm. I should've been dead.
I should've been begging.
Yet I stood.
I glared.
No hate.
No wrath.
No emotion.
My body stood.
Unmoving.
Unshaken.
But I wasn't there anymore.
Only instinct remained—
The will to never kneel again.
***
The battered and bruised Andrea lay on the floor. Her consciousness slowly fading. Yet her breath hitched at the last thing she saw.
Just a boy.
Standing.
Because he refused to kneel.
The crowd fell silent. An unsettling sensation bleached the sadistic fervor. Some of the students choked on their words. Some gasped. Some collapsed in shock. No cheers. No gasps. Just silence. The kind that follows an earthquake. As if the world itself was holding its breath.
Even Maximus took a step back. Because they didn't understand what they were looking at.
A slave who forgot how to bow.
A boy with no power, no plan—
A force that will consume them all.