With the eruption of the tower leader’s rage, the protective runes on the walls lit up one after another, and the restraint rings around Lioran glowed more intensely.
For the first time, Lioran truly recoiled.
The tower leader rose from his seat. His eyes no longer held that cold, calculating gaze from moments ago.
In them was a rage that had been fueled by years of grief, regret, and hatred.
"My daughter died because of you." His voice was low, but every word landed like a blow in the room.
Lioran tried to say something.
"I..."
The tower leader shouted:
"Silence." The wave of his pressure made Lioran’s chains rattle.
"You made her kill herself with her own hands."
"Broke her will."
"Destroyed her mana rings, and then recorded her death as suicide."
The tower leader’s breathing had grown heavy, and his voice trembled more with each sentence.
"For years, you let me live with the thought that my daughter had been disappointed in me."
"For years, I blamed myself."
"I thought I couldn’t save her."
"I thought I didn’t see her pain."
The mana around him became so dense that more cracks formed on the table.
Varcas quickly rose from his seat.
"Leader."
Azreon also stepped forward.
"Control yourself."
The tower leader didn’t take his gaze off Lioran. If they hadn’t stopped him, he might have cast aside all the tower’s laws and killed him with his own hands right there.
"If you kill him now, the trial, the full confession, and the entire network behind these murders will be lost." Varcas said in a quieter voice.
It took a few seconds for the mana pressure to subside. The tower leader sat back down, but this time, his rage hadn’t disappeared.
It had only transformed into something colder and more dangerous. He looked at Lioran.
"From this moment, your status as a succession candidate is revoked."
Lioran’s eyes widened slightly. The tower leader continued:
"All authorities, resources, insignias, and privileges related to succession are canceled."
"Until the official trial, you will be imprisoned in the central dungeon." He paused briefly.
"And at the end of that trial, I will personally request the death penalty."
This time, something inside Lioran completely crumbled. He rose from his seat.
The chains were pulled with a sharp sound, and the restraint runes beneath his feet lit up.
"No." His voice was no longer calm.
"This is impossible."
Varcas frowned, but Lioran no longer paid attention to anyone.
"You can’t do this."
"The founder is behind me."
"He won’t allow it."
The tower leader looked at him for a few seconds, then laughed. A short, dry, bitter laugh.
"The founder?"
"He has already abandoned you."
The sentence landed like a direct blow to Lioran’s soul. He immediately touched the mark within his soul again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
He sent all his mental force toward it. No response came. This time, he could no longer deny the truth.
The connection wasn’t just silent. The support had been withdrawn. The founder had personally decided to abandon him.
Why? Why? Why?
Why did all this disaster have to happen to him? Why was he so unlucky? Why?
Lioran’s face went completely blank for a moment. Then he spoke the last thing he still had in his possession.
"I am still a Lionheart." Hoping his family name would save him.
"So what?" The tower leader didn’t even blink.
The influence of the Lionheart family might, under normal circumstances, cause the magic tower to think twice about making a decision that could strain relations between the two powers.
But now? The situation has gone far beyond anyone’s control. Neither the tower leader nor the elders care about the Lionhearts’ opinion in the slightest.
Lioran’s crimes over the years are so great that they are unwilling to forgive or release him under any circumstances.
If the Lionheart family tries to make things difficult, they will respond in kind. They fear no one.
Lioran fell silent.
"What does it matter? Even the patriarch of the Lionheart family can’t save you!" The tower leader’s gaze fixed on the guards.
"Take him to the dungeon."
Security forces entered and stood on either side of Lioran.
He was still saying things, about his family, about the Lionhearts’ influence, about how the court wouldn’t dare convict him.
But no one was listening anymore.
The door closed, and the sound of his chains slowly faded into the hallway. After he left, the room fell into silence for a long time.
The tower leader sat back down. His mana pressure had completely subsided.
The rage had left his face, replaced by something heavier.
Grief.
He pulled out the crystal containing Aurelia’s image from his storage space. His finger moved over its cold surface.
His eyes closed for a moment.
"I realized too late."
"But at least the truth has been revealed." Varcas said quietly.
"The truth won’t bring my daughter back." The tower leader answered without taking his gaze off the crystal.
No one said anything.
Because there was no sentence that could lighten that truth.
A while later, the tower leader left the interrogation room and went to one of the private rooms in the central ring.
Daniel and Serys were waiting there.
Serys stood by the window, looking down at the crowds still talking about Lioran’s arrest in the tower’s hallways.
Daniel sat on a chair, calmly holding a cup of tea; as if the fall of the tower’s most popular figure was not an event that had shaken the entire power structure.
When the tower leader entered, they both turned their gaze to him. He walked directly toward Daniel.
For a few seconds, he said nothing, as if thinking about the words he wanted to say.
"Without you, the real killer would never have been punished." Then he said in a serious voice, his gaze shifting for a moment.
"I won’t forget this debt."
"The trial hasn’t happened yet. He can’t escape anymore, can he?" Daniel placed the cup on the table.
"With the evidence we have, the outcome is certain."
Serys turned from the window. Anger was still visible on her face.
"Fortunately, that bastard is in prison now."
"And he will be executed soon." The tower leader nodded and then continued:
"His succession status has also been revoked."
Serys was silent for a few moments. Her gaze shifted between Daniel and the tower leader, and then she asked:
"So what do we do now? Cancel the succession ceremony?"
A faint smile settled on the tower leader’s lips.
"Of course not."
"Then?"
The tower leader took a few steps toward her, his gaze fixed directly into her eyes.
"Instead, I have a better plan."
Serys felt something had changed in his tone. A few seconds of silence passed.
"How about you take that position?" Then the tower leader said.
Serys went completely still. She didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. She couldn’t do either from the shock.
For a moment, she even thought she had misheard.
"Me?"
"Yes."
The girl tried several times to say something, but no sentence formed.
She had expected the council to introduce a new candidate, or the ceremony to be postponed for a few years, or a new competition among the candidates to begin.
But she had never imagined the tower leader would personally offer her the succession position.
Daniel watched her reaction and smiled very faintly, then rose from his seat.
"I’ll leave you to talk about it."
Serys unconsciously looked at him.
"Daniel..."
But he was already moving toward the door.
"This is your decision."
Daniel opened the door and left the room. The tower’s hallways were still full of whispers. Lioran’s name could be heard from every corner.
Some couldn’t believe it, some were angry, some were afraid, and others were already talking about the future of succession.
Daniel walked through the hallway without paying attention to any of them. He reached the special stone elevator for the lower levels.
He showed the tower leader’s seal to the guard. The guard immediately stepped aside. The stone doors of the elevator opened, and cold darkness crept out from within.
He stepped inside. A moment later, the doors closed behind him, and the elevator descended toward the central dungeons.
The light of the hallways remained above one by one, and the darkness grew deeper. Amidst that cold silence, he smiled faintly and whispered under his breath:
"It’s time to have my final meeting with Lioran."