Ludger didn’t hesitate.

  “If it were just me,” he said, voice flat and utterly sincere, “I’d be fine with dropping a massive stone on the Roderick manor and ending this entire mess in one strike.”

  Viola froze mid-movement, her quill hovering above a page. Maurien blinked once. Kaela’s smile widened like she’d just been given a new favorite hobby.

  Ludger continued, expression unwavering. “But I’m not doing anything until I know my squad is safe. I’m not risking a single move that could harm them.”

  Viola leaned back slowly, raising an eyebrow in a mixture of disbelief and cautious curiosity. “You do realize,” she said carefully, “that dropping a boulder the size of a house on a noble estate would involve a lot of innocent people, right? Servants. Guards. Children. People who have nothing to do with the Rodericks’ schemes.”

  Ludger didn’t flinch.

  “A lot of innocent people are already dead because of the Rodericks,” he replied, tone cooling to something sharper. “They’ve been supporting an entire underworld operation across borders. Capturing Empire citizens. Selling them off to the Velis League like livestock. Filling the black market with addictive draughts. Feeding violence into the north and south to keep the Empire unstable.”

  His fists tightened at his sides.

  “And they didn’t stop there.”

  Viola’s eyes narrowed.

  Ludger pressed on. “They’ve been eliminating people behind the scenes. Anyone who could oppose them. Anyone with influence or information. Not fast enough to draw attention, but consistent enough to shift political balances. Every death looks isolated, but it’s not. It’s coordinated.”

  Kaela crossed her arms and nodded approvingly. “Shadow politics at its finest. Disgusting. Effective. Boring.”

  Maurien’s face remained calm, but Ludger saw the tension tightening his jaw.

  Ludger continued, voice lowering. “So no, I’m not losing sleep over the idea of crushing their manor. Not after seeing what they’re doing across both borders.”

  He paused, then added with cold clarity:

  “But I won’t make that move until I know my guild members are alive.”

  Viola held his gaze for a long, quiet moment—studying not just his anger, but the conviction behind it.

  Finally, she sighed and set her quill down.

  “…Then finding them comes first,” she said softly. “Before revenge. Before politics. Before everything else.”

  Ludger nodded once. That, at least, they all agreed on.

  Viola flipped through a few papers, then pulled out a sealed document and tapped it against her desk.

  “We have a meeting tomorrow morning,” she announced, “with Varik. He requested it the moment your squad was detained.”

  Ludger’s expression soured immediately. Viola noticed.

  “He’s the one who helped us in the south,” she reminded him. “During the bridge construction, the mission to connect the archipelago labyrinth routes. He fought well. I had a good impression of him.”

  Ludger grunted, noncommittal.

  Viola narrowed her eyes slightly. “What? You didn’t?”

  Ludger shrugged. “I didn’t have a bad impression. Or a good one. Just… neutral.”

  Kaela snorted softly. “Meaning he didn’t punch anyone memorable.”

  Maurien hid a faint smile.

  Ludger’s attention shifted back to the table. “Either way, I’m not waiting for political meetings. I want to go through the sewers tonight. I can use Geomancy to find the squad. Track heartbeats. Breathing. Mana signatures.” His jaw tightened. “I’ll locate them faster that way.”

  Viola’s expression immediately hardened in concern. “No.”

  Ludger’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “Because the prison they’re being held in,” Viola said, “is probably under heavy magical fortification. Several layers of barriers, all maintained by stationed mages. If you use geomancy to dig, crack, or even brush against those constructs, they’ll sense it instantly.”

  She leaned forward.

  “And they’ll connect it to you.”

  The words hit him like a slap.

  Ludger’s jaw clenched. His back straightened. A tremor of fury ran up his spine, visible enough that Luna, standing quietly beside Viola, instinctively shifted, her hands drifting toward the hidden knives strapped under her sleeves. Not threatening Ludger, just reacting to the spike of killing intent that rolled off him like heat.

  Maurien spoke softly, “Ludger.”

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  The boy froze, breathing through his nose, trying to rein the anger back under control.

  Viola lifted a hand gently, as if soothing a wild animal. “I know how badly you want to move now. I get it. But barging underground toward the prison will alert half the Imperial Court. It won’t save your squad, it’ll guarantee they’re moved, or worse.”

  Ludger lowered his gaze, silently forcing himself to steady the fire burning up his throat.

  Viola took a breath of her own and stepped back from the desk. “You three have been through hell. Especially you,” she said, pointing at Ludger. “Your posture is awful, you’re still recovering, no matter how much you pretend you’re fine.”

  Kaela nodded, smirking. “Yeah, kid. You look like you lost a fight with a golem and then rolled down a mountain.”

  Maurien added, “Rest. We’ll be more effective tomorrow.”

  Viola nodded firmly. “You need sleep. All of you. Tomorrow is going to be ugly, and you’ll need your strength—especially for dealing with Varik.”

  Ludger didn’t argue. He just exhaled slowly, unclenched his fist, and accepted, for now, that patience was the only weapon they had left tonight.

  Morning settled over Torvares’s capital estate with a slow, muted light. The air carried the scent of warm bread and herbal tea, and servants moved quietly in the halls, trying not to disturb the tense atmosphere hanging over the manor. Maurien and Kaela arrived first to the dining room, looking noticeably better after a full night in real beds. Maurien’s posture was steady again, every line of his body showing he’d regained the composure he’d lost during their sleepless rush through the League. Kaela, refreshed and humming under her breath, flipped a small knife between her fingers, her steps lighter than they’d been in days.

  Ludger was already at the table, but he didn’t look improved at all.

  He sat stiffly, shoulders rigid, eyes shadowed with the same burning anger that had kept him awake most of the night. A plate of food rested in front of him, eggs, bread, fruit, tea, but he hadn’t touched a single piece. His jaw remained clenched, and the tension around him was thick enough to choke on. Even Kaela hesitated before sliding into the seat across from him.

  No one asked why.Ludger’s ideals were straightforward.

  He wanted a guild that welcomed people, that treated members like humans instead of disposable tools. A guild where training mattered, where every member was taught to grow, where no one felt like dead weight. He didn’t demand loyalty through fear or intimidation, he built trust, earned respect, and expected effort in return.

  And his people gave him that effort. Day after day. Fight after fight. They weren’t his family, nothing would ever matter more to him than Elaine, Arslan, and the twins, but they were his responsibility. His creation. His choice. And he protected what he built. He always had.

  Which was why his food sat untouched and cold, and why rage simmered behind his eyes. Five of his guild members were imprisoned. For nothing. Used as shields in a political game. And Ludger was genuinely considering going to war over it.

  He knew it was reckless. He knew one wrong move could tear apart alliances, disrupt the Empire, and drag Lionfang into the crossfire. But he also knew that if he didn’t fight for them, if he didn’t move heaven and earth for his people, then every promise he’d made while building the Lionsguard would be hollow.

  Kaela finally broke the silence with a dry snort. “You look like you’re plotting mass murder on an empty stomach.”

  Maurien cut her a sharp look, but Ludger didn’t react. His eyes stayed on the plate, though the frustration twisting inside him was far heavier than the breakfast he couldn’t bring himself to eat.

  “If someone hurts my people…” he said quietly, gripping the edge of the table. “…then I don’t care who they are. Or what title they hide behind.”

  Maurien nodded, calm but firm. “We’ll find them. And we’ll do it smartly. Charging in blind helps no one, not you, not them.”

  Kaela’s grin widened. “We can always turn the Empire upside down after we save them.”

  Ludger didn’t answer. He simply filled his empty stomach since he would need all the energy he could get. Whatever the Rodericks were planning, whatever trap they’d set. He was done waiting.

  When breakfast finally ended, Maurien finishing his tea, Kaela stealing the last piece of fruit, the three of them followed Viola out of the estate and onto the streets of the capital. Carriages rolled by, guards marched in formation, and the morning bells echoed across marble avenues. It was a world waking up… but Ludger felt none of its rhythm.

  Viola led the way, keeping her pace quick and purposeful. “We’re heading to the Senate complex. Varik is waiting there. He’ll explain exactly what ‘evidence’ they used to capture your squad.”

  Maurien nodded silently. Kaela cracked her knuckles as they walked. Ludger stayed a step behind Viola, listening but still simmering.

  Viola continued, her voice dipping just enough to show how serious she was. “I’ve already sent messages to my grandfather and to Lucius.”

  That made Ludger lift an eyebrow. “Lucius Hakuen?”

  He remembered the man from the southern expedition, the one helping build the bridge toward the archipelago labyrinth. Lucius was competent, strong, and irritatingly charismatic… but Ludger had never decided if he trusted him.

  Viola caught the shift in his expression immediately.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But we need support for this. As much as we can get. Especially from factions that won’t immediately side with House Roderick.”

  Ludger’s voice was flat. “You trust him far too easily.”

  Viola stopped walking just long enough to give him a sharp glare over her shoulder. The kind of glare that would’ve shut up any normal twelve-year-old.

  Ludger didn’t shut up. He added, completely deadpan and with zero humor, “Is it because you like his face? Even after you broke his nose?”

  Kaela choked on her own spit. Maurien exhaled through his nose, fighting a smile.

  Viola, however, did not laugh. She turned fully toward Ludger, expression narrowed and dangerous for a moment.

  He sighed. “Sorry.”

  She huffed, waving a hand dismissively as she resumed walking. “I always knew you weren’t cut out for politics. Or diplomacy. You’re barely cut out for talking.”

  Kaela snorted. “She’s not wrong.”

  Ludger didn’t respond, but he didn’t deny it either.

  As they continued toward the Senate’s towering buildings, something heavier hung in the air around them. It wasn’t just Ludger’s anger, it was the way that anger had shifted him. He normally carried an undercurrent of dry humor, quiet amusement, or a faint smirk even in dangerous situations. He always found something to be wry about, even if only in his own head. But now? There was none of that. No sarcasm. No mocking comments. No half-smile. Just a hard, quiet tension radiating off him like heat from stone. Even his movements were different, tighter, sharper, as if he were ready to strike at the next bad piece of news.

  Maurien noticed first. He kept glancing at Ludger from the corner of his eye, posture raised slightly as if ready to intervene if the boy acted rashly. Kaela, usually thrilled by chaos, wasn’t teasing him anymore. She watched him carefully, eyes narrowed, sensing the dangerous edge beneath the surface. Even Viola, who had seen Ludger fight, seen him bleed, seen him reckless, walked a bit closer than usual, as if she wanted to keep him anchored.

  This version of Ludger was rare. He wasn’t reckless. He wasn’t unstable. He was furious. And for the people who knew him, even lightly, that was terrifying.Because Ludger was always the calm one. Always the pragmatic one. Always the one who could smile after a fight or shrug off a setback.

  Seeing him like this… with his usual levity stripped away… with his gaze dark and his mana coiled tight beneath his skin…it worried everyone. It meant something had been pushed too far. And the capital was about to find out what that meant.