Shadow Slave

Despite the fact that Gunlaug's heavy presence permeated every centimeter of the castle, the Bright Lord himself was strangely elusive. He didn't show himself often, preferring to rule through his five proxies. Whether it was out of arrogance, paranoia or some other reason, Sunny did not know.

After the incident with Seishan, he was afraid to let his shadow walk too freely and tried to avoid going anywhere near the fearsome master of the ancient stronghold. Because of these precautions, he had not seen Gunlaug until their fifth day in the castle.

As it turned out, when Golden Serpent did show up, he liked to leave an impression.

Sunny and Cassie were about to receive their usual breakfast when the whole grand hall suddenly grew deathly silent. Feeling that something was wrong, they turned to the entrance — just in time to see a torrent of Guards pouring inside.

Sunny's heart skipped a beat.

'What's this?'

Fearing for the worst, he tried to think of the best way to escape… but luckily, the menacing soldiers of the Host paid them no attention. Instead, they quickly dispersed around the hall and moved the long tables to the walls, creating a large open space in the middle.

Cassie grasped Sunny's shoulder and whispered:

"What is going on?"

He hesitated, then answered uncertainly:

"I'm not sure…"

sight of Caster standing among the crowd. The handsome young man had a solemn look on his face. His gaze was turned to the dark alcove

one, all the Sleepers turned to face the same direction.

stepped out of the darkness of the alcove and stood at the steps leading up to the throne. They were Gemma, Tessai, Seishan,

Sunny noticed him, an involuntary

was a strange, pale man with a bony face and glassy, emotionless eyes. His spine was twisted, making him

and holding himself with a

Harus, and he was Bright Lord's hidden blade and executioner. When someone needed to be disposed of, he was sent to carry out the punishment. If Gunlaug wanted everyone to know about his displeasure, there would be rivers of blood left in his wake.

disappear, as though they had

Gunlaug's murderous

castle had seen nightmares in which they awoke only to see his glassy, cold eyes staring at them from the darkness. For some, those

fact that they were almost nothing

precise, of a possible

am… I am

himself to look away before the hunchback felt his stare, Sunny turned his head and looked at the tall man who had finally

that it was a man, and not some golden

a strange, gilded armor that covered his tall figure from head to toe, not leaving even

empty expanse of polished gold reflected the frightened faces of hundreds of Sleepers back at them. Sunny saw his own reflection staring at him and suddenly realized how small and weak he

His legs trembled.

palpable. All the people near Sunny were going through a similar kind of experience as him. Their faces were