The silence in the courtyard was heavy.
So heavy that it stopped being silence and became a presence.
Something was sitting between Korval, Ashen, and the monster… waiting for any word to attack.
Korval took another half step forward.
His eyes were fixed on Ashen, but his mind was running like a wolf chasing an opportunity.
He was a king…
a leader…
a ruthless politician.
But right now he wasn't standing in front of a commander, or a prodigy, or an enemy.
He was standing in front of the unknown.
And the unknown… was the most dangerous thing on the continent.
Korval stared into Ashen's eyes for a long time.
He wanted to read him…
to understand him…
But the longer he looked, the more it felt like he wasn't looking at a young man of flesh and blood…
but at an abyss.
Ashen's eyes reflected nothing.
No emotion.
No interest.
No worry.
No hostility.
They were like two empty pieces of glass…
and behind them, a beast was yawning.
Korval asked himself silently:
"Am I looking at a person… or at a shell driven by some force?"
He had never felt anything like it.
Even the fiercest commanders of the Red Emerald Kingdom… even the greatest blood sorcerers… always showed something:
anger, hunger for power, desire for dominance.
Ashen?
He was like a wall.
Or like living flesh that didn't understand what emotion meant.
A king like Korval understood this type of being immediately.
If you can't control it…
use it.
If that fails…
kill it.
That's how the law of the jungle works.
Korval spoke in a low voice, as if his words were meant for Ashen and the entire city:
"No one destroys an entire city… and stands here without purpose.
I want to know… what are you looking for?"
Ashen did not reply.
He did not move.
He did not blink.
But something in the air shifted.
Korval felt it right away.
A small tightening… like a heartbeat in the earth.
He smiled faintly.
"Your silence… is more dangerous than your words."
He was speaking, but his mind was saying something else:
"This boy… cannot be read. If he betrays me, I'll kill him. If he stays silent, I'll use him.
If he walks with me… I'll cross the continent with him."
Ashen's evaluation — a predator's compliment
Ashen was looking at Korval…
but not like a man looking at another man.
He looked at him the way a predator evaluates another predator.
He did not see cowardice.
He did not see the collapse he saw in the eyes of soldiers or other leaders he had faced.
Korval was standing…
steady…
unshaken despite the hell around him.
And between Ashen's silence and Korval's silence…
a single emotionless thought was born:
"This man… might be useful."
It was the deepest compliment a creature like Ashen could think.
The monster behind him suddenly shook.
Part of its body shifted, and its upper side split open to reveal an extra mouth, with bony teeth and a voice made of a hundred choked souls.
It laughed—
a warped, stumbling laugh, as if written from sounds that did not belong to a single world:
"I can… smell your greed… from here…
king…"
The courtyard tightened.
Even Ashen moved his eyes slightly.
But Korval…
smiled.
The smile of a king who knew exactly who he was.
"Greed?
Of course.
Without greed you cannot build a kingdom…
or conquer another."
His words were sharp, direct, and honest.
A confession that was terrifying because it was true.
The monster's body shook.
Bones screamed inside it.
Blood tried to seep from its pores.
But the laugh didn't stop:
"Good… good…
I like… the hungry ones…"
Korval extended his hand slightly.
Not as a gesture of friendship…
but as a negotiator calling two beasts instead of two commanders.
His voice was clear and steady, as if he were speaking to a throne, not to creatures outside logic:
"I don't know why you slaughtered this city, but the amount of extracted blood shows that you need a huge and concentrated supply of blood.
Help me…
and I will give you what you want."
He raised a finger:
"Territories…"
He pointed at the remains of the city.
"Resources…"
He pointed at the army, at the kingdom's treasure.
"Blood…"
He pointed at the monster.
"And enemies… many of them… waiting to be slaughtered."
It was a dangerous offer.
A boldness only a man surrounded by death but facing power could show.
Reactions
The monster couldn't hold back.
Its entire body shook.
Hundreds of small openings appeared on its skin, and the screams of souls burst out at once.
Hunger.
Blood.
Killing.
Cities.
Chaos.
The offer was… an invitation.
But Ashen?
He said nothing.
Yet the silence he gave…
hit Korval in the chest like a blow.
It wasn't the silence of rejection.
Nor the silence of mockery.
It was the silence of "I am thinking"…
the silence of "this could happen"…
the silence of "be careful… my agreement is not a blessing, but a swallowing."
Korval felt it.
He sensed that this silence…
was worth more than a thousand words.
Suddenly, the air changed.
It became heavier.
Deeper.
Shallow, as if the entire courtyard had sunk into something unseen.
Even the city walls seemed to stop breathing.
The commanders behind the king put their hands on their swords.
The soldiers went silent.
The blood under their feet felt like it was waking up.
It was clear:
the city itself… was listening.
And it was waiting to see what would happen between these three.
Even Korval…
for the first time since the war began…
felt that one wrong move might make the kingdom disappear tonight.
And so…
three predators stared at each other…
while the entire kingdom held its breath.