THE STRATEGIST
"As in a chess game, everything is calculated. The king built his empire on alliances
Strategic, but the unknown woman was his miscalculation. ”
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 1: King Almar d'Orval: The Rise of the Strategist
Before being the king of a powerful kingdom, Almar d'Orval was only a man like so many others, Without wealth, without inheritance. He came from dark and cold lands, where nobility is not earned
Not with blood, but with cunning, ingenuity and calculation. A child from the alleys, without Past, nameless, who only learned to read to understand the movements of his enemies.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
He started small, but he saw in every alliance, every war, every ambush, a Occasion. An opportunity to distinguish yourself, to make a place for yourself, and to rise. With words more
That with weapons, with movements more than with swords, he overturned kingdoms
Destroyed kingdoms? Yes. But not in a noisy way. Almar was quietly destroying everything, one blow at a time. of a master at a time. He understood that the appearance of power could be more fatal than the reality of power. of power. He negotiated, betrayed, and even sacrificed to get to where he is. When the kingdoms were falling, they didn't even know they were already lost. Everything was already planned. Everything was already under control.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
And in the blink of an eye, he had become king, untouchable, master of the game.
But his intelligence also isolated him. Because he believed he was incomprehensible, indecipherable. No one could read his intentions, he was a mystery. This reassured him in his position, until… one day, he meets Lady Sereliane.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 2: Lady Sereliane: The Unknown One from Afar
She did not grow up in palaces. She did not learn in royal academies. She knows nothing of great battles or secret alliances. But she has seen strategy in the streets, in the survival conflicts, in the games of the smaller ones. She knows how to read people, situations, intentions, like no one else. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Born in the remote villages of the north, where only cold and war are known, she survived. She observed, learned, understood the subtleties of human power, and forged an intelligence sharpened. No one knew where she came from, but everyone knew that everyone could be manipulated by her, if she wished.
And one day, in the great capital, she enters the kingdom of Almar d'Orval. How? She knew someone, an old ally or an old acquaintance from a particular event, a moment when she knew her destiny would lead her there. Perhaps a ceremony, or a secret meeting where the most powerful gather. It doesn't matter, it's not the destination that counts, but how she knew to get there. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
She has no title. But she has this ability to decipher people, their intentions, just by a observation. Her gaze can read the secrets of the most strategic, the most cunning. And that's how she arrives in the kingdom of Almar, without him knowing exactly what awaits him. What he knows is that he is finally confronted with a puzzle he did not foresee.
⸻
Geznah.S
| The Silence Reader
Their Crossed Destinies
A king. A woman. Two opposing intelligences, but perfectly balanced. A game of strategy, manipulation, and silence.
Sereliane arrives, and everything changes for Almar. He, who believed that no one could ever decrypt, is suddenly confronted with someone who sees what he hides, his invisible truths, his weaknesses.
But Sereliane, she is equally unsettled. She, who has been able to decipher kings, who has seen the strategies of the world, finds herself facing a man who equals her, even surpasses her.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 3: The Encounter
"It is not the screams that govern the kingdoms, but the unblinking gazes." "Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The great hall of Orval, that night, was a theater of gilding and masks. The chandeliers hanging cast reflections on the stone walls, and the music flowed softly, like a muffled whisper between the steps of the guests.
An alliance was being celebrated. Officially. But in the gazes, in the forced smiles and the raised toasts, it was all about power, observation, and secrets.
And that’s when she appeared. Not as a guest of honor. Not as a shadow either. She entered silently, without announcement, dressed in deep black, with just a silver fabric on the left shoulder — the kind of detail that only the observant noticed.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
King Almar of Orval saw her. And he knew.
He knew that this woman was not there by mistake. He knew that she was not a lost stranger, nor a disguised lover. She was… a message. A movement. A provocation.
And she walked slowly through the hall. She did not look at anyone. She observed everything.
Almar, motionless on his obsidian throne, did not move. But internally, he straightened up. For the first time in years, he did not fully control the room. Another piece had just been placed on his chessboard, and he did not know its origin.
— Who is that? murmured the Lord of Arvak to his right.
— The one we should not ignore, replied Almar without taking his eyes off the silhouette.
Sereliane.
She knew that the king was watching her. She knew that every step in this palace was a statement. But she was not there to impress. She was there to read. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
And she read.
The posture of the generals. The coded gestures of the maids. The laughter too loud. The silences too long.
She also read the king. And she saw. She saw what no one else seemed to see. His solitude. His vigilance. His boredom.
When she reached the height of the throne, she did not bow. She raised her eyes. Not with arrogance, but with precision.
— Your Majesty, she said.
And in that single word, there was a declaration of war, a tacit pact, a smile that only a another strategist could understand.
Almar did not respond immediately. He let the silence settle. He wanted her to doubt. But she did not doubt. She fixed her gaze on him. Not as a woman fixes her gaze on a king. But as a strategist measures another strategist.
— Your name? he finally asked. — Sereliane, she replied simply. — Sereliane from which kingdom? — None. But those I have crossed have not forgotten it.
And there, he knew. She was not a guest. She was a mirror.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 4: The Game Begins
"Those who speak too much reveal their hand. Those who remain silent write history."
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The next day, Sereliane's name was already running through the palace corridors.
"A noble exile."
"A witch from the Northern lands."
"A spy from the fallen kingdoms."
Everything was false. And yet, all of this pleased Sereliane.
She knew that doubt was more powerful than truth. She knew that in a court full of certainties, an unknown quickly became an obsession. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Almar, on the other hand, only slept with one eye. He did not like surprises. And this woman... had not made a misstep. She had simply existed in the wrong place. Or at the right time.
He called for his most loyal advisor, Master Calveran.
— Who invited her? asked the king.
— No one, Your Majesty. She showed up at the banquet with an invitation signed... by you.
Almar looked up. He never signed without knowing. Someone had imitated his seal. It was not audacity. It was a test.
He had a discreet smile.
— Good. Then let's play.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The king sent a discreet message. A summons. But not in the throne room. No. He wanted to see her elsewhere. Where kings are no longer kings. Where the walls do not protect. In the old abandoned greenhouses of the palace — where rare plants once grew, and where only come now are the curious or the ambitious.
She arrived on time. Alone.
He was waiting for her, standing. Without a crown. Without a cape. Just a man.
— You are early, he said.
— I am always on time when I choose the place, she replied.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Silence settled between them. But this time, it was no longer a wait. It was a dance. A circle of glances, shadows, suspicions.
— You entered my kingdom like a riddle, said Almar. — And you let me in as a challenge, she replied.
— Why are you here?
— To observe.
— Observe what?
— The end of your reign, perhaps.
A breath. A tension. No threat in the voice. Just a truth stated like a hypothesis. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
— Do you think you can read me?
— I read silences, Almar. And yours screams.
He stepped closer. She did not move. And he understood. It was not a piece on the chessboard. It was another player.
That night, in his office, Almar noted a single sentence in his war journal:
"For the first time, I don't know if I'm in control of the game." Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 5: The Offer
"In a world of snakes, the first to reach out holds the poison."
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Days passed. And Sereliane, far from hiding, was gently settling into minds like a permanent riddle.
She asked for nothing. Sought nothing. And yet, the gazes followed her. The whispers grew.
One evening, an invitation arrived.
Short. Signed this time by her hand.
To His Majesty King Almar of Orval, "Since no piece moves without reason, I propose an exchange. No secrets. No oaths. Just... the truth."
In the hall of mirrors, midnight. Without a crown. Without escort.
Almar had not smiled like that in years.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The mirror room was a forgotten place in the palace. A vestige of an era of vanity, where kings contemplated more than they governed.
When he arrived, she was already there, sitting, her gaze lost in her own reflection.
— Why here? he asked.
— Because this is where the powerful distort themselves, she replied.
He sat down. In silence. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
— You are looking for something in me, he said.
— No. I’m watching how you hide it.
He stared at her. And in that gaze, there was no more play. Only two intelligences. Two beasts of silence.
— Then, let’s offer each other a truth, he proposed.
— Okay, she said.
— I don’t trust you.
— And I don’t believe you.
They remained still for a moment.
Then, Sereliane handed over a small parchment.
— This is a map. A region you do not know. But which is watching you. They want your throne. They think you are weak, distracted... too comfortably seated.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Almar took it, studied it. He did not recognize the symbols. But he knew how to read what was unsaid.
— And why give me this?
— Because you will have to choose: keep an eye on me, or keep me close to you.
He looked at her for a long time. And finally replied:
— So here is my offer, Lady Sereliane:
A role in my advice. Not a title. Not yet. But a voice. An ear. And a test.
She looked at him in turn.
— I do not accept offers. I build them. And she left, without waiting for his response.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
That night, Almar remained alone in the hall of mirrors. And wondered if it was he who had placed the first piece, or if the game had started well before he realized it.
Chapter 6: The Silent Game
Silence, in Almar's courtyard, carried more weight than a thousand words. And that day, the silence of Lady Sereliane resonated as an answer in itself. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Since her arrival, she had never raised her voice, nor provoked, nor revealed her intentions. And yet, Almar, a strategist from the start, sensed in her a hidden language, a precise and disturbing mechanism. He wanted to be sure. First test.
He summoned her for a private audience, but at the last minute, he discreetly integrated her into a public audience. A dispute between two noble families, a fabricated conflict. He wanted to observe if she would intervene, if she would take sides, or if there was in her an impatience to untangle the lies.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
But Sereliane remained seated, impassive. Her gaze slid from one face to another, as if she was listening beyond the words. Then, at the moment she slipped away, she murmured to a guard stationed nearby at the door:
"It is the children, not the fathers, who must be separated."
An odd but precise phrase. And when the conflict was resolved, a few days later, the scheme was revealed: it was indeed the heirs, and not the heads of families, who were clashing in secret. Almar had said nothing. But he had noted.
Second test.
A messenger. Young, clumsy. He was to deliver to Sereliane a document containing a riddle, a hidden trap. The title seemed to ask for advice on a transaction, but the language of diplomacy betrayed a planned betrayal.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Sereliane read the message, then, without a word, folded the paper, burned it over a candle, and handed it to the messenger with a simple phrase:
"He who thinks to deceive with a pen forgets the smell of ink."
The messenger reported this phrase to Almar. And the king, for the first time in a long time, smiled.
Third test.
A banquet. Official. All eyes on her. A royal advisor, an old ally of Almar, questioned her in a loud voice:
"My lady, do you believe that loyalty is born with power, or dies with it?"
She calmly set her wine cup on the table. And replied:
"Loyalty is born in the dark. And dies in the sun."
Polite laughter. But behind every laugh, a shiver. Almar stared at her for a long time that night. She knew it.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
That night, in his tower, the king noted three things:
1. She never reacts impulsively.
2. She always responds with more than one meaning.
3. She knows he is watching her.
But what he still did not know... is that she was testing him too. And that with every trap he set, she had already placed an exit.
Chapter 7: The Council of Shadows
Geznah.S | The Silence
Reader
In the oldest corridors of the Orval palace, there was a room without emblem, without direct light, direct, without witness. Only a few of the king's chosen entered there. It was not the place for ceremonies, but the place for cold decisions, relentless strategies. It was there that the Council of Shadows met.
There were only five of them. All loyal to Almar, but each with their own ambitions. Strategists, manipulators, sometimes monsters. They were not there to advise... they were there to win.
That evening, Almar summoned them.
— "She is not just a simple guest. She calculates. She knows." he said, in a neutral tone.
Counselor Vaer, an old man with hands twisted by plots, replied: — "This kind of woman does not appear by chance. She is a pawn... or a threat."
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Another suggested trapping her with a false alliance. A third wanted to force her to marry a weak noble to neutralize her.
But Almar, silent, was tracing circles with his finger on the table. He was thinking about her responses, about her gaze. He knew that Sereliane would never be fooled by such a trap. crude.
— "She already knows that we are talking about her," he murmured.
And indeed, while the Council was deliberating, Sereliane walked alone in the palace gardens, as if the whisper of the stones was revealing invisible truths to her. She looked at the moon, but listened to the shadow.
She knew that every step in this kingdom was a step on a chessboard. And she had already taken her first piece.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 8: The Sealed Invitation
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The next morning, a letter sealed with a black seal was discreetly placed at the door of the apartments of Sereliane. No name, no coat of arms. Just a symbol: an overturned crown. The kind of message that is only addressed to those who already know how to read between the lines.
Sereliane showed no surprise. She observed the seal for a few seconds, then slipped the letter into her sleeve without opening it. She waited. Any premature invitation was a provocation. And she never let herself be rushed.
Later, at dusk, she decided to respond. Not with words, but with gestures. She appeared in the secondary council chamber, a room where nobles usually showed up for the form. There, she crossed paths with one of the members of the Shadow Council — deliberately. She greeted him with a courteous tone, but let slip a subtle, almost innocuous phrase:
Almar, he, observed from the heights. He wore a golden mask, but his silence commanded more than his presence. He did not move. He was waiting.
Then, in the middle of the hall, their gazes crossed through the crowd. He had not yet approached her. Neither had she. But that look, that fraction of a suspended second, was enough to trigger a silent duel.
He ordered that one of the dancers invite her.
She politely declined.
He sent a servant to bring her a particular glass of wine. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
She drank another glass instead, but deliberately left Almar's untouched on a table in plain sight, without touching it.
She knew. He knew that she knew.
Later, a noble tried to extract a few words from her. She smiled, slipped into her response a name that only a strategist could notice: that of a general who had fallen long ago, betrayed in a war that no one mentioned. A way of saying: I know your scars, even those you hide.
Almar, up high, received this message like a blade in the ice. No wound. Just a shiver.
— "She wants to dance with the shadows. Perfect." he murmured.
And the night continued, two minds at war, without a word, without a hand raised. Just signs, gestures, silences. The game had just begun. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 10: The Brilliance of Doubt
King Almar had never needed love. He considered it unstable, weak, dangerous. He preferred it loyalty, strategy, silent ascent. Feelings were, for him, a terrain without a map, where even the best strategist could get lost. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
But Sereliane… she was something else. She did not play by the rules he knew.
Since the Hour of Masks, she haunted his mind like a riddle he could not close. She had said nothing openly provocative. Done nothing spectacular. And yet… she had seen. SEEN what others ignored. She read his silences like others read poems. She did not ask questions; she let her looks do the work. And that was indeed what troubled him.
He found himself watching her as she passed through the halls. Waiting for a word from her. To replay their exchanges in his head.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
One evening, as the rain drummed against the windows of the great hall, Almar found her there, alone, facing the hearth, a cup in hand. He approached. Not like a king. Like a curious man.
— "You knew the wine was poisoned, didn’t you?" he said, in a low voice.
— "You knew I knew. But you let it happen."
Silence. Not a challenge. Not an accusation. A bare truth between the two of them.
— "Why?" he asked.
— "To see how far you would go… or how far you were waiting for me."
She stood up gently. The fire danced in her eyes. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
— "You have put so many barriers around you, Your Majesty, that even the walls seem to have fear of you."
— "And you, you pass through them as if they were just a curtain."
She stopped, near him. For the first time, he felt not the fear of losing, but the fear of not understanding. He had lost control of that part. And yet... he had never wanted to continue playing so much.
And she, looking at him, understood. He had seen it too. He had deciphered her.
No one had ever understood her without her wanting it. No one had ever looked at her as an equal. Until him.
And in this suspended silence, without declaration, without promise, was born what neither of them had anticipated: a shiver. A crack. A feeling.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 11: The Alliance of Mirrors
It was said that great strategists could not love, for they saw too much, anticipated too much, doubted too much. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
But what the kingdom did not know is that a true strategist does not seek a simple heart — he seeks a mirror.
And Sereliane was that mirror.
They had started with games of observation. Side glances. Tests placed between the words, like blades hidden under flowers. He tested her, she tested him. He feigned surprise, she feigned ignorance. But soon, there was nothing left to hide.
— "Why not just play with me?" he had said to her one night, while the palace was sleeping. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
— "Because I no longer want to defeat you. I want to join you."
It was the first time she had shown herself vulnerable. And he, the king of walls, the man of mental fortresses, felt a soft crack in his defenses.
They made an alliance. Not in blood, nor in papers. But in an exchanged glance, a pact silent between two souls too tired of intelligent solitude.
From then on, Sereliane was more than a stranger. She became a secret advisor, a parallel spirit, a voice he listened to before all others.
And Almar, he was no longer alone in bearing the invisible weights of the crown.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 12: The King's Flaw
The king was sitting, as always, in the shadow of his throne. His eyes followed each of his
gestures to her. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
She was laughing.
Not with him. With another.
A young noble freshly arrived for minor negotiations. Unimportant. But she was looking. She was listening to him. She nodded in that way he thought was unique, reserved for him alone. And the laughter... that laughter, he had never heard it like that.
A strange cold had crept under his skin. No anger. Not yet. But a tension. A violent misunderstanding.
He had conquered kingdoms without flinching. But this scene, right in front of him, awakened something uncontrollable.
— "What does it change?" he thought.
But he knew that everything was changing.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
He got up. Walked towards her. Slowly. Without saying a word. She saw him. Her gaze met his. And in that gaze, he saw that she understood. She knew. She was reading him, again. And instead of backing away, she held his gaze, with that same calm, unsettling smile.
It was at that moment that he knew. It was not just jealousy. It was the fear of losing her.
Chapter
13:
The Game within the Game
That evening, a letter had been discreetly placed in her chambers. Signed by no one, but the king's seal left no doubt. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
An appointment. A trial.
Lady Sereliane read each word calmly. She understood immediately. It was not a request. It was a test.
He wanted to see if she would go, how she would react, what she would say.
She folded the letter. Slowly. Then she smiled.
She would go.
But not to prove anything to him. She would go, because she knew he was expecting a reaction... and she would choose exactly the one he desired. Nothing more dangerous than giving a a king what he expects. He always ends up wondering: "Why didn't she resist?
"Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
That evening, she wore what he loved: this simple yet powerful dress, silent yet imperial. She spoke little. She let him guide the conversation. She gave exactly the answers he was expecting, neither more nor less.
And the king, that evening, went to bed thinking he still controlled her.
Chapter 14: The Inverted Mirror
Weeks went by. He continued to test her. Word games. Missions. Calculated silences. calculated. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
And her? She played. But not to please.
She walked into traps... and came out unscathed.
She pretended to ignore the double meanings of his sentences, while he saw in her eyes. that she understood them all. She sometimes laughed at the right moment — too much at the right moment. She stopped exactly where he would have wanted her to hesitate.
And he, the king, began to doubt.
He thought he had control. But every time he thought he had trapped her, she offered him exactly what he hoped for... as if. if he had never been guiding, but being guided.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
One night, as he watched her silently from the heights of the palace, he murmured to himself: "She knew... from the beginning."
And for the first time since his ascension, the king felt fear.
Not an ordinary fear. A soft fear. A fear... unsettling.
The fear of falling in love.
Chapter 15: The Cold Escape
Since he had whispered those words — "She knew... from the beginning" — something had changed in King Almar of Orval.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
He avoided her gaze. He shortened their conversations. He delegated the tasks he had previously entrusted to her.
He wanted to distance himself.
But it was not out of distrust... It was out of weakness. A weakness he refused to admit.
"She is a danger. Not to my throne. To my balance."
So he devised a new plan.
He ordered that another advisor accompany him on the mission.
He summoned former allies to his royal circle.
He organized a private reception, without inviting her.
He believed she would react.
She said nothing.
She simply remained calm. Polite. Untouchable.
But every gesture of the king, every attempt at distance, she read them like open letters. She knew. She understood.
And yet... she was still playing.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 16: The Wall that Gives Way
One evening, as the rain beat against the palace windows like an ancient drum, Sereliane entered the study. He hadn't been there for days. But she knew he would return. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
He was there. Standing. Silent.
Facing the fire, a glass of wine in hand, which he was not drinking.
She said nothing. She waited.
— Why did you come? he finally asked, in a voice too calm not to tremble.
— Because you did not forbid me to come, she replied simply. He finally turned his head. His eyes were fixed on her. Too long.
— You knew I was testing you.
— Yes.
— And you were pretending not to understand.
— Yes.
— Why?
She approached. Slowly. Without defiance. Just with that presence impossible to ignore.
— Because sometimes, letting the other believe that they control everything... is also a strategy.
He clenched his jaw. She had just pronounced what he had been unable to name for weeks. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
— You are playing with me, he murmured.
She smiled, without mockery.
— I am not playing. I understand you.
A silence. Long. Then he took a step towards her. He had that look between anger and desire, between the mistrust and admiration.
— That’s what drives me crazy, Sereliane.
And for the first time, the flawless strategist, the king of kings, felt helpless.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 17: The Silent Agreement.
The next day, rumors were already spreading through the palace: the king had canceled three audiences, closed his doors, and refused all contact with his advisors. He listened to no one. Except her.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
In the hall with black columns, where only the footsteps of those who had something to hide echoed, they met again. Without an appointment. Without a summons. As if fate, or strategy, always brought them together at the right moment.
He observed her.
— You have come to disturb me again?
She replied:
— I came to see if you understood.
— Understood what?
— That we are alike. But that we no longer need to fight each other.
The king stood up. He was staring at her, not as a man observes a woman, but as a player of chess finally sees the equal he has been searching for all along.
— I have spent my life anticipating the moves of my enemies. Predicting betrayals, plots, the weaknesses. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
He approached her, just a few steps away.
— And now, I move forward not knowing what your next move will be. It’s dangerous. She stepped closer in turn.
— Or maybe… that this is the first time you are playing with someone who does not want to betray, nor take your throne.
He remained frozen.
And in this silence, an invisible agreement was made between them.
Neither signed nor spoken. But felt.
Like a new alliance born not of necessity... but of recognition.
Two minds, two kingdoms. A union.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 18: The King Before His People
He entered the throne room without his guards.
Straight. Calm. Cutting.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
His gaze swept over the advisors, the war chiefs, the nobles who came from the four corners of the kingdom. They awaited the king as they knew him: distant, cold, unpredictable.
But he was no longer exactly the same.
When he spoke, his voice was still firm, but there was something else. A stability. A new fire. A new. A form of sovereign calm.
— You have known me alone, he declared. Strategist. Master of silence. King by cunning and patience. He descended the steps of the throne, walked towards them.
— But today, I found the one that no one could buy. Neither submit. Nor understand. She sees where I look. She understands what I haven't even said yet.
The whispers rise.
And then, with a gesture, he reaches out his hand towards the entrance.
Lady Sereliane steps forward, in a dress as black as night, silent as a shadow. Not as a conqueror. As an ally. As an equal.
— Here is the Queen without a Crown, he said. And yet... the only one who has ever deserved me.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 19: The Shadow of the East
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
In the forgotten lands of the East, where the old lineages have never accepted the domination of Orval, the Council of Elders has gathered for the first time in two generations.
— It is no longer about a king, one said.
— Nor about a woman, another said.
— It is a dynasty in the making, replied the oldest. And this kind of dynasty... leaves nothing for the others.
They knew that if Almar and Sereliane take root together, no kingdom will be able to match them. Their reign will not be based on blood, but on precision, the reading of the world, the absolute control.
And it is here that a forbidden proposal arises: to awaken an ancient power, a forgotten name, that even Almar thought destroyed.
An exiled prince. A broken pact. A shadow war.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
What it opens:
1.A new enemy: someone from Almar's past? Someone who knows his flaws?
2.Spies in the palace: they are trying to separate the king and Sereliane.
3.An even greater test for their alliance: will they remain united or will the pressure divide them?
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 20: The Silent Golden Age
The kingdom of Orval had never known such stability. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader Internal conflicts were silenced. Alliances, old and new, were flowing. Even enemies, out of caution or fear, chose silence.
All this, without a war, without an army raised. Just the two of them.
King Almar had become more than feared — he had become admired. But those who watched him closely saw the change. He smiled sometimes, even in the middle of an audience. He spent more time listening than dominating. And always, somewhere in the shadows of the hall, Sereliane was watching him, and he knew it.
She didn't always speak, but when she did, the words were enough to disarm a minister or to shake a foreign plan.
And yet, no crown on her head. No ring.
Just her presence. Her silent reading. Her gaze. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
People began to whisper.
— Is she the queen without a crown?
— No… it’s more dangerous than that. She doesn’t need a crown.
And at the top, the king began to understand. What he felt. What he feared.
She was not his weakness.
She was the only thing that truly saw him.
But… this kind of peace is like the dawn just before the storm.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 21: The Silence Before the Storm
Months passed, and everything seemed perfect. But in the heart of the kingdom, an invisible pressure settled.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
King Almar, once as certain of himself as of his own power, found himself in doubt silent.
He could no longer discern whether his actions were still dictated by reason or by a desire that he refused to understand.
His empire was thriving, and yet… a void was growing in his chest.
He did not dare to admit it to himself.
He didn't even know if he had ever felt it, this thing. This emotion that seemed to him to escape.
Love? It was too simple. Too human. Too... small for a man of his caliber.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
And yet, every time Sereliane stood near him, he felt something greater than his empire. She deciphered him like no one else.
The Woman Who Takes the Reins
Sereliane, for her part, was not blind. She knew that the king was becoming indecisive. She saw it in his gestures, in his words, in his averted gaze. He could not see beyond his own limits, even if he believed he was a master of strategy.
But she... She did not have the same hesitations. She knew when to act, when to take the reins without him realizing it. She knew deep down that true power was in action, not in waiting.
There were moments when she knew she would have to stand out for the good of the kingdom. If the king was hesitant, she would not let him get lost in that doubt. She would decide in his place if necessary. For their common future.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
The decisive moment: one day, an important diplomatic problem arises. A neighboring empire begins to threaten the borders. The king, in a state of deep indecision, seeks to avoid conflict, to play the card of diplomacy.
But Sereliane, aware that time is of the essence, decides to act differently. She takes the initiative to organize a secret meeting with the enemies. Without telling the king.
She knows that if he were to discover this, he might get angry, but she is ready to take the risk, because she knows that the kingdom must move forward. She sends a secret message to the enemies and proposes a strategy that would turn the whole situation to their advantage.
⸻ Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
Chapter 22: The Alliance or the Ruin
Sereliane returns after successfully completing her mission. She sees the king, standing, looking at the map of the kingdom, with a lost expression.
Geznah.S | The Silence Reader
She gently challenges him, but with confidence. She says to him, calmly: "You don't need to doubt. We must move forward. And sometimes, moving forward means making decisions that we do not want to make, but that are necessary."
The king stares at her for a moment, a bit surprised. Then he understands.
He understands that, without her, he would not have had the courage to do what was right. And for the first time, he acknowledges that his power is also Sereliane's. They are not simply allies, but two equal forces. Geznah.S | The Silence Reader