"You want to know who I really am?”

  That’s the first thing I said to the Demon Lord and the enemy king across the stone table.

  Chains clinked around my wrists. The cell stank of blood and rot.

  But their eyes held curiosity, not pity.

  So I gave them truth.

  I was crowned king at thirty.

  In a world where people live for over a thousand years, I was a child with a crown.

  To them, I was a joke—a brat in royal robes.

  But I was also a war hero. A symbol of peace. A fool who believed in honour and law.

  That was my crime.

  The Count betrayed me on a mission.

  My own friends stood by.

  And the final dagger… was from my wife. Nina.

  The woman I loved. The one I was building a world for.

  They didn’t even give me the dignity of a last word.

  But fate has a twisted sense of humour.

  My soul didn’t pass on. It tore through the veil and landed inside a dying noble child—

  the only son of a Duke, barely clinging to life.

  When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by strangers.

  Their eyes cold. Their bows shallow.

  I was nobility once more… in name only.

  As my body healed, my past came crashing back.

  Memories. Power. Hatred.

  I dug into records. I read the Empire’s rewritten truth.

  They’d called me the Demon King.

  A tyrant. A destroyer.

  A man who shattered the Empire and was executed by the “RIGHTEOUS” QUEEN.

  They erased me. Replaced me with a lie.

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  So I trained. Learned. Waited.

  There was one law I had left behind in my old life:

  The Tournament Rule.

  Defeat the King, and the throne is yours.

  I made it as a challenge. A symbol of strength and fairness.

  Instead, it was used as my grave.

  The Queen invoked it.

  Twice I fought.

  Twice I failed.

  The second time, I uncovered the truth.

  The Queen didn’t fight fair.

  She sabotaged challengers before they even reached the ring.

  Threats. Poison. Rape. Kidnappings.

  She bled them dry without ever raising a blade.

  So I prepared.

  For five long years, I buried my emotions and trained like a beast.

  I let go of my father’s love.

  Let go of everything but rage.

  And when I fought her the third time…

  I didn’t just defeat her.

  I humiliated her.

  Her magic shattered. Her pride crumbled.

  I stripped away her dignity.

  Then in front of the capital—

  I tore her limb from limb.

  Her screams weren’t of fear.

  They were of realisation.

  Of truth returning to her bones.

  And before the final blow, I whispered my name.

  She died knowing.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  Not yet.

  The King—my old friend, my brother—he still breathed.

  While my subordinates forged royal decrees and false laws, he was thrown among death row inmates.

  There, he met the poison known as Thousand Venom’s Bite.

  It eats away the mind, warps your thoughts, convinces you to devour yourself.

  He died screaming, chewing off his own flesh, lost in hallucinations of fire and betrayal.

  Justice.

  I thought it was done.

  But shadows moved beneath my feet.

  The demons.

  They had built their nation in silence.

  Allied with your enemy kingdom—your kingdom.

  They knew who I was.

  They found me.

  And for a week now, I’ve rotted in your chains.

  And now you offer me a town.

  A ruined place.

  A pit of has-beens once called the Rising Nation of Stars—

  where prodigies were born, where talent burned bright…

  Now reduced to thugs and filth.

  You want me to rule it?

  Fine.

  I’ll build a kingdom there.

  One so terrifying that even demons will whisper my name with dread.

  You asked who I am.

  I’m the Hero you erased.

  The Demon you feared.

  The King you murdered.

  And I’m just getting started.