“When I first arrived, I was also full of high spirits.”
The King’s sudden sigh startled Soke, who was just about to make a move.
He froze instantly, obediently pulling his hand back and not even daring to breathe.
The King’s gaze drifted out the window, his voice tinged with a distant melancholy, as if he were reminiscing about a far-off era.
Every word was wrapped in an inescapable sense of helplessness.
“I thought that with those so-called modern and advanced concepts in my head, I could transform this Human Royal City and change its state of poverty and weakness…”
“I wanted to implement imperial examinations to select talent and break the shackles of hereditary nobility, allowing commoners with knowledge to rise. But the moment I turned around, I was harshly rejected by those old stubborn fools in the Council of Elders. They claimed it violated ancestral laws and insisted I was trying to shake the very foundations of the kingdom.”
“I wanted to implement the land equalization system so that displaced refugees would have fields to till and live in peace. But I forgot that the land in this world had long ago been carved up by the various lords until not an inch remained. Forcing its implementation would only have incited internal strife.”
“I even wanted to form a modernized army and discard those old, conventional ways of fighting. But who could have guessed? There was no matching smelting technology to forge weapons, no carefully selected qualified soldiers, and certainly no generals who could understand these tactics. Those plans, which worked only on paper, ended up becoming a laughingstock for the Council of Elders.”
Soke was completely stunned, his mouth hanging open for a long time.
He had never seen the King let down his guard and reveal his inner thoughts like this, nor had he ever heard these bizarre words.
Every term sounded completely foreign to him.
“Imperial… modernized army? Your Majesty, what exactly do you mean by all this?”
He stammered his question, his voice trembling.
He felt as though the King’s words were nothing more than a fairy tale.
Hearing this, a self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of the King’s mouth.
That smile was filled with unspeakable bitterness, and the light in his eyes dimmed.
“What do I mean? It was nothing more than my own wishful thinking. I always thought about changing fate against the heavens, thinking I could let everyone live a better life, but I forgot that this world has its own rules.”
“There is no industrial foundation here, no accumulation of civilization. There is only the absolute power of bloodline inheritance, the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak, and class barriers that have built up over hundreds or even thousands of years.”
“I used modern standards to demand too much from the people of this era, using unrealistic ideals to fight against deep-rooted reality. In the end, I only brought trouble upon myself. Instead, I gave the Council of Elders an excuse to slowly strip away my power, turning me into a puppet king in name only.”
As his voice fell, he suddenly turned around.
His gaze became as sharp as a blade, piercing straight through Soke.
The pressure in his eyes was overwhelming, making Soke’s legs go weak as he nearly collapsed to the ground.
“Do you think I am truly ignorant? I have long seen your secret collusion with the Council of Elders. I simply grew tired and weary. I didn’t want to fight or struggle anymore.”
“I once thought Lu Chen was the only person in the world who could understand me, the left and right hand that could help me implement reforms. But you all wanted him dead, and now his whereabouts are unknown.”
“I placed my hopes on the Hero, hoping to use his power to intimidate the surrounding forces and stabilize the situation. But the Hero died suddenly, and the new generation of Heroes has yet to appear. It wasn’t until this moment that I finally realized.”
“My so-called ‘good intentions’ were nothing but self-indulgence detached from reality.”
“My so-called ‘reforms’ were nothing but a castle in the sky without a foundation, collapsing with a single push.”
Soke trembled even more violently, cold sweat drenching the clothes on his back.
He only now realized that the King was not dim-witted or incompetent.
Rather, he possessed a vision and ideas far beyond ordinary people.
It was just that those ideas were too advanced and too strange, completely incompatible with this era.
He was a lonely genius whose tune was too high for anyone to follow.
“Your… Your Majesty…”
He opened his mouth, but a thousand words were stuck in his throat.
He couldn’t say a single thing.
The fear in his heart was gradually replaced by a complex emotion.
The King took a deep breath and raised his hand to rub his aching brow, forcibly suppressing the churning emotions in his heart.
His tone became cold and firm once again, each word carrying weight.
“I know you are acting on orders from the Council of Elders. I also know they want to take advantage of the monster disturbance and the public’s panic to force me to abdicate and replace me.”
“But I am telling you, as long as I am the King of the humans for one more day, I will never let their conspiracy succeed.”
“It’s just that I finally understand now. To deal with the Council of Elders and the menacing monsters, I cannot use my original set of ideas. This world, after all, must rely on the rules of this world to survive. Only by following the heavens can one seek a way out.”
He stepped forward, walking until he stood directly in front of Soke.
He looked down at him, his eyes heavy with an unquestionable majesty.
“You have two choices now. One is to go back and tell those old fogies at the Council that I will not sit and wait for death. If they want to seize power, they have to ask me first, and they have to get past the monster crisis.”
“The second is to stay by my side and help me do one thing. Completely give up those unrealistic schemes, repent, and do some real work for this Human Royal City.”
“I can overlook your past faults and even give you the power you desire, letting you hold a high position. But the premise is that you must understand that this era has never needed visionaries or treacherous officials. It needs people who can solve problems practically and shoulder heavy responsibilities in times of crisis.”
Soke looked up, meeting the unprecedented determination and resolve in the King’s eyes.
Thinking back to the King’s heartfelt words that had just overturned his perception of the world, the scales in his heart swung violently.
He had always thought the King was a hollowed-out puppet, a weak and incompetent monarch.
He never expected that the man’s heart hid so much turmoil and struggle, along with such grand but ultimately unattainable ideals.
And that sentence the King spoke…
‘This world, after all, must rely on the rules of this world to survive.’
It exploded in his mind like a clap of thunder, deafening and thought-provoking.
For the first time, he began to ask himself: was following the Council of Elders, greedily pursuing power, and calculating against others truly the right thing to do?
He opened his mouth to say something, but it eventually turned into a heavy sigh.
He remained silent for a long time.
—
On the other side, atop the Ethereal Celestial Platform above the sea of clouds, mist swirled in a divine atmosphere.
A white jade chessboard lay spread out quietly.
The black and white pieces were scattered across it, faintly corresponding to the people and events of the other world.
“This is bad… Tsk, it seems I’ve really messed up this time.”
A clear, melodious, and heavenly voice filled with a hint of frustrated complaint broke the silence of the celestial platform.
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