The Royal Castle stood tall, immaculate—and completely irrelevant.
The banners still flew. The council still met. Guards still saluted out of habit. But the power that once justified their existence had evaporated the moment prophecy failed.
Inside the throne room, the nobles argued.
"We must restore the Dragon's covenant!"
"The insignia must be repaired!"
"The people need certainty!"
Their words echoed hollowly.
Anos Voldigoad entered without announcement.
No doors opened for him.
They simply no longer mattered.
Conversation died instantly.
Every noble present felt it—not fear, but recognition. The sense that hierarchy itself was being evaluated and found… optional.
Subaru followed, uneasy. Emilia hesitated, then stepped in as well.
"This assembly," Anos said calmly, "was founded on borrowed authority."
Murmurs spread.
"The dragon's blessing. The royal prophecy. The insignia. None of these were yours."
A noble stood, voice shaking. "And who are you to judge us?!"
Anos looked at him.
The man sat back down without realizing why.
"I am not here to judge," Anos said. "I am here to inform."
He turned toward the empty throne.
"There will be no king chosen by fate."
Gasps erupted.
"No queen by prophecy."
More panic.
"Leadership will no longer be inherited, foretold, or enforced by divine systems."
The room trembled—not from magic, but from conceptual removal.
"You may govern," Anos continued, "only if people continue to follow you."
Silence.
One of the elders whispered, "Then what is the throne?"
Anos considered the question.
"A chair," he said.
He turned away.
"This world does not need a ruler," Anos added. "It needs accountability."
As he left, the throne room felt… smaller.
The throne itself seemed ridiculous now.
Outside, Subaru exhaled hard. "You just dismantled a kingdom."
"No," Anos replied. "I removed its excuse."
Emilia looked back at the castle, then forward.
"So what happens to Lugnica now?"
Anos glanced at the city beyond the walls—alive, uncertain, real.
"It grows up," he said.
And for the first time in its history, the kingdom had no destiny to hide behind.