Shadow Over the Heavenly Throne

She had never felt anything like it before.

Sylphia took her first step into the new dimension and immediately felt the world shift—not space or time, but something within her. As if her bones, her muscles, her skin were all trying to adjust to something they couldn’t understand.

Before her stretched the Throne Hall. But this wasn’t any palace chamber she knew. This place defied the very definition of a hall.

Columns rose from the ground like mountains, spiraling with runes and blue light. The floor, made of transparent crystal, reflected their silhouettes as if another world existed just beneath their feet. There were no walls. No ceiling. Only endless space, suffused with a singular, absolute presence.

At the far end, atop a platform of black stone, he sat.

Kaen.

His head rested on one hand, bored, as if the sight of over thirty members of the royal family was nothing more than a break between yawns. But no one laughed. No one moved. His mere presence filled the world with a weight Sylphia couldn’t describe.

The Former King moved first. His steps were steady but slow, as if he carried more than just his own body. When he reached Kaen, he silently dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

Then came the Elders. Their movements identical. A ritual.

Then... Aldrich. Veynessa. Calista. Renald. Maren. Thalos.

All of them knelt.

After them, their children. Kaelis, Vaelin, Lioren, Cassya, Ilyra, Caius, Elric, Lyra, Noel...

Until only one remained.

Sylphia.

Her heart thundered in her chest. She felt every gaze on her. She felt... his presence.

This wasn’t a man. Not even a cultivator. This was something beyond. Something that didn’t need to speak for the world to obey.

And that was why she didn’t kneel.

She knew what she was doing. She remembered her mother saying her time would come. That she was still a child. That she wasn’t ready.

But she couldn’t.

Because she had been reincarnated. Because she remembered another world. Because she knew what it felt like to be average. To regret never trying. She had one life to prove she wouldn’t repeat that weakness. If she didn’t show she was different now, when would she? If she didn’t prove she was more than the youngest princess, she’d be remembered as no one. 

And more than that—this was her moment. The one chance to stand out. To be noticed. To catch the eye of something greater than royalty, greater than history. If she had even the smallest chance to make him see her... she had to take it.

"Sylphia." Her mother’s voice. Quiet, but sharp. "Kneel."

Sylphia didn’t answer. She just stared forward.

Someone behind her whispered in disbelief. Someone else—probably Lioren—gritted their teeth. Calista tilted her head, as if she’d just spotted something worth watching.

Then... Kaen opened his eyes.

Just one glance.

And the world stopped.

It felt like standing before something massive. Like a beast from legends had risen and lifted its claw, ready to crush her.

Her legs buckled. Her body shook. She couldn’t breathe.

Her mother moved—about to speak, to shield her.

But Kaen looked.

That was all it took.

Veynessa froze, her body no longer her own. Her knees slammed into the crystal floor, cracks webbing out like lightning. Her entire form collapsed downward, as if some invisible force had pressed her to the very core of existence. The air thickened until each breath was a separate burden, each atom its own crushing weight.

Seeing her mother literally forced to the ground by Kaen’s gaze made her heart twist in fear. She had to act—she had to say something.

Kaen turned away from Veynessa for a moment—his gaze landed briefly on Calista, who still watched with that strange, anticipatory smile. But only for a moment.

Then he looked back at her.

She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She trembled. Her heart pounded. The words... wouldn’t form.

Kaen stared.

Silence.

She clenched her fists. Took a breath. Another. And—

"I came in answer to your summons. That is respect enough. But I will not kneel."

The voice was hers, but it sounded different. Strangely... real.

"There is only one person I will kneel for." Her hand moved gently toward Veynessa, who was still struggling under the weight of Kaen's pressure. "Of my own will. Out of respect. My mother."

She heard someone gasp sharply. Vaelin shifted suddenly, as if ready to rise—to stop her, to stand between her and Kaen’s wrath. But before he could, Aldrich’s hand fell on his shoulder. The King said nothing—one look was enough. Firm. Resolute. And Vaelin froze.

But Sylphia continued: "As a future cultivator, I cannot acknowledge anyone as above me. Because the moment I do... my path ceases to exist. And I won’t walk a path that belongs to someone else."

"Cultivation isn’t about following in someone’s footsteps." Her finger pointed toward the Elders, then toward Kaen. "Not yours." She swept her gaze over the members of the royal family. "Not theirs." Then she pointed to herself, fire burning in her eyes. "It’s the belief that I will be the peak. That my steps will carve a new path—untouched by those before me."

Silence. Kaen watched. No one dared to breathe.

"One day... I will be the one they all kneel to."

The runes in the air stirred. The aura shifted. The pressure vanished.

Kaen smiled slightly. But it wasn’t friendly.

"Hmph... Finally, a royal with a spine."

His voice was like cold steel. The words vibrated in the air, as if the very space didn’t want to let them go.

Sylphia exhaled in relief, her heart still pounding like a war drum—but the thought that she had endured, that she had made it, was a rush of breath after leaping a chasm. She was just about to move—

—when everything returned. The pressure. Monstrous. Inhuman. With a force she had never experienced before.

Her knees buckled without asking. She fought, desperately, to stay upright, but it was like trying to resist the sky itself collapsing just for her. Her legs gave out—as if the weight of the world had focused on her joints. She hit the ground with a dull thud, echoing through the chamber like a sentence passed. The crystal beneath her knees quivered. Her hands trembled like leaves in the wind. Every muscle burned. Every breath was a blade.

Kaen hadn’t even moved. But his voice was a verdict:

"Remember this feeling."

His tone was cold, indifferent—and all the more devastating for it.

"You may imagine you are something more... but right now, you are just a worm. And your place is exactly where you are now."

Silence. Each word hung heavy as lead.