A sorcerer's shadow.
The scroll was delivered to the Sorcerer King within the hour. Selena, now confined to a small but elegant chamber in the castle's western wing, waited. She had no way of knowing how he would react to her cryptic message. Would he see through her act? Or would he see a valuable tool, a seer he could exploit? Her life depended on the latter.
Hours later, the heavy door of her chamber opened. It was not the Sorcerer King, but his most trusted confidante, a powerful mage named Kaelus. He was a tall, severe-looking man with cold eyes and a perpetually condescending sneer. He was not a character from the manhwa, but a new creation by the System, an obstacle designed to make her life difficult. He held her scroll in his hand, his fingers tracing the strange symbols she had used to write her "vision."
"The King is intrigued," he said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. "He has commanded me to interrogate you. He wants to know how a mere human with a cursed sigil could possibly have this knowledge."
This was it. The moment of truth. She couldn't afford to be clumsy or fragile this time. She had to be a master of her craft, a puppet master pulling the strings of a powerful mage.
"My knowledge does not come from this world," she said, her voice a calm, even tone. "It comes from the great weavers of fate, the ones who spin the threads of destiny. They do not speak in words, but in whispers and signs. I merely interpret their will."
Kaelus's sneer deepened. "Do you think I am a fool, little seer? I can feel no magical aura from you. You are nothing more than a common human. You have no power."
"And yet," she said, her eyes meeting his without a hint of fear, "I told you the truth. A rebellion is brewing in the North, and your King knows nothing about it. A conspiracy is being formed beneath your very nose, and you are all blind to it."
He didn't move. She had used the word "blind," a word that would get under the skin of a mage who prided himself on his all-seeing power. She had to make him believe that she had a power that was beyond his comprehension, a power that could not be detected with magical auras or arcane arts. She had to make him feel small and inadequate.
"The King is an anomaly," she continued, her voice gaining a sharp, precise edge. "He is a being of immense power, and yet he is an outcast from his own kind. He has no friends, no allies, only subjects. He is a solitary figure, a King with a kingdom but no home. He is a lonely, misunderstood genius, and in his loneliness, he has made himself vulnerable."
The words hit their mark. Kaelus's face, a mask of cold suspicion, flickered with a brief, unguarded moment of surprise. She had just described his King, not as a tyrant, but as a tragic, lonely figure. She had spoken a truth that he, as a loyal subject, would have never allowed himself to voice.
"I can help him," she said, her voice a low, intimate whisper. "I can give him what he truly desires: not power, but a true ally. Someone who can understand his loneliness and his genius. Someone who can see the world not as a weapon, but as a chessboard. I can be that person."
Kaelus stared at her, his mind struggling to process her words. He had been sent to interrogate a spy, a villainess, a liar. He had not been sent to meet a woman who could see the soul of his King.
He left the chamber without another word, his face a mask of profound confusion. He was a cog in the machine, a puppet on a string, and she had just convinced him that she was the one pulling the strings. Her life was still on the line, but she had bought herself more time. Her six-year sentence had just begun, and she had already won her first battle.