Chapter 161

The dust of battle had barely settled. Lucian's body still lay sprawled on the stone

floor of the arena, blood soaking through his once-pristine garments. The crowd was in shock-silent, stunned, overwhelmed.

And then came the voice.

"Winner... Jaden Rift!"

The announcer's declaration echoed across the arena like a war drum. Cheers

followed slowly at first, then faster-roaring into waves of thunderous applause and disbelief.

"Jaden won..."

"He really did it..."

"He ended Lucian..."

"The throne of power belongs to the Scarface and Winston families now..."

A new chapter had been written in blood.

But just as the crowd began to process the moment, a new presence descended on the arena.

The air shifted. Soldiers entered the space with rigid precision, their black armor gleaming under the lights. Behind them strode a man wrapped in a dark crimson cape, bearing the insignia of Ironvale.

General Kaelus.

One of the most feared names in the empire. A war strategist. A kingmaker. And the appointed Overlord of Ironvale City.

He walked with purpose, flanked by Hope and Drax, two of his most trusted lieutenants and four elite soldiers.

The crowd backed away instinctively. The tension snapped like glass when Kaelus suddenly knelt.

Flat on one knee. Head bowed.

"All hail the King of War."

Gasps rippled across the arena.

Jaden blinked, stunned. His breathing was still rough from the battle, knuckles

stained with Lucian's blood. His chest rose and fell, adrenaline still burning beneath his skin.

“Kaelus?” Jaden muttered. “What the hell are you doing here?"

Kaelus looked up, his expression hard but respectful.

"I swore I would never show myself again unless it was necessary. And this moment... was long overdue."

Jaden lowered his guard but kept his tone firm. "You didn't answer me."

Kaelus stood. "First, let me offer you my respect, and my congratulations. You've done what no one else could. The Thornfell's reign is over. Your mother's legacy of betrayal-purged from the record."

Jaden's eyes darkened. His jaw clenched.

"I'm not done yet," he said. "Agatha still breathes."

Kaelus gave a slow nod. "Then the war isn't over."

Jaden froze.

Kaelus took a slow breath. "But I didn't come just to watch you end Lucian Thornfell.

I came because... we found her."

Jaden's brow furrowed.

"Found who?"

"The woman,” Kaelus said, his voice grim. "The one from five years ago."

The words hit Jaden like a slap to the face.

He took a small step back.

The nameless ghost from five years ago.

fet

A memory Jaden had tried to forget, even though it haunted him daily. It all came back like a sudden fever. The siege. Blackrock Pass. His unit had been ambushed during a brutal operation. The battle was a O bloodbath. He had been wounded, left behind in the chaos, and taken to a remote med-station for treatment.

That's when it happened.

The betrayal.

Someone-likely one of his

enemies's agents-had gotten to him. Tampered with his hydration pack. Slipped a military-grade neurotoxin into his water. Not sedative. Something worse. A hallucinogen engineered to erode morality, scramble thought, and

override judgment.

It didn't knock him out.

It twisted everything.

Jaden remembered the confusion. The heat. The screaming inside his skull. The world turned into a

battlefield of illusions. He thought he

was trapped. She

Everyone he saw became a threat. Friend or enemy-he couldn't tell the difference.

He had escaped the camp that night. Driven by delusions. Half-dressed, bleeding,

not even knowing where he was. Just raw survival instinct and fractured memory.

And then... the woman.

She had found him on the street. A stranger. Just a kind-hearted woman who tried to

help.

But under the toxin's grip, Jaden didn't see her as a civilian.

In his mind, she was the enemy's consort. A torturer. Someone who had ordered the deaths of his comrades.

The line between perception and reality collapsed in seconds. The toxins manipulation his sexual desires and he forced himself on her.

The worst part wasn't what happened. The worst part was waking up the next morning on a cold, bloodstained floor, with no memory of the woman's name. No idea where she went. No way to trace her.

Just guilt.

Years passed. He searched everywhere. Poured resources into private investigators, underground networks, even facial-recognition scans across international borders.

Nothing.

She had vanished.

And now Kaelus was standing here, five years later, saying they finally found her.

"Also she now has a daughter and is still unmarried." Kaelua said.

"what?

"Yes My King, and from the timing, the records... the child is probably yours."