His Rejected Plus-Sized Secret Heir 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 131 - 챕터 140

XanderThe council reconvened two days later, once the wounded had stabilized and the immediate crisis had settled into the exhausted, watchful calm that always followed genuine battle, and I studied the assembled faces around the table, Rourke, Liam, Selene, Marcus, Ondine, understanding that whatever strategy we settled on would need to account for an enemy who'd just proven willing to commit considerable resources toward a single, failed extraction attempt."We captured three of Derrick's warriors during the retreat," Marcus reported. "Two remain silent under questioning, trained, as we've come to expect, to withstand considerable pressure. But the third, younger and apparently less committed, has begun offering fragments.""What kind of fragments?" I asked."A location," Marcus said. "An old fortress, abandoned generations ago according to public record, situated deep within the mountains bordering the eastern territories. He claims it serves as the Ashcroft line's primary strongh

Elma"The fortress is real," she reported, once the full council had gathered to hear her account. "Abandoned on the surface, exactly as public record suggests, but Liam and I found evidence of considerable activity beneath it, tunnels extending deep into the mountain, recently reinforced.""Did you find their leadership?" Xander asked."We found something else first," Liam said grimly, exchanging a glance with Selene that suggested whatever came next carried particular difficulty. "A prisoner, held in isolation deep within those tunnels. We freed her before retreating, though bringing her back required considerable care given her condition.""Who?" I asked, though something cold and unsettled had already begun coiling in my stomach.Liam hesitated, then gestured toward the door, and a healer from Selene's own household guided a thin, hollow-eyed woman into the room, her wrists still bearing the marks of long confinement, her gaze finding mine with an expression I recognized instantly

XanderNadia's revelation arrived at the war council like a blade dropped into still water, every face around the table shifting into careful, immediate suspicion as the implications settled fully across the room."We need to consider everyone," Marcus said grimly. "Every person who's joined this circle across the past months, regardless of how thoroughly we've come to trust them.""That's an impossible standard," Rourke objected. "We'd be paralyzed, suspecting our own allies at every turn.""Not impossible," Ondine said quietly. "Simply careful. I can perform a detection ritual, one that reveals whether someone carries the particular binding magic Derrick's organization uses to maintain loyalty among their planted agents. It's invasive, and it will take time given how many people would need testing, but it would resolve suspicion definitively rather than leaving us guessing.""Do it," I said immediately. "Starting with everyone who's joined us since Elma's return, myself included, s

Elma"He remembers nothing of actually gathering this information," Ondine reported, once the careful debriefing concluded. "The compulsion worked entirely outside his conscious awareness. But whatever he observed during his months at the hospital, moments he genuinely couldn't recall choosing to notice, the binding recorded and transmitted regardless.""Which means Derrick knows exactly as much about us as Peter unknowingly gathered," Xander said grimly. "Our defenses, our routines, likely even some sense of the children's training progress.""Then we've been fighting this entire war already compromised," Rourke said. "Which makes tonight's strategy considerably more urgent. If we intend to move against that fortress, we need to do it before Derrick adjusts his own defenses to account for whatever advantage he's already lost now that Peter's binding is broken."The council spent the following days finalizing plans I found myself, despite every fear still circling my chest, growing ge

DamienI arrived at the fortress an hour behind the main assault force, having remained briefly to finalize the settlement's remaining defenses before joining the fight myself, and the scene I found upon entering the central chamber sent every instinct in me screaming toward violence.Derrick stood surrounded by considerably more warriors than our scouting reports had suggested, our own forces already engaged in fighting that had clearly begun the moment his trap sprung fully closed around them."Damien," Derrick called, spotting me immediately despite the chaos. "How fortunate. I'd hoped you might arrive before I concluded this particular demonstration.""What have you done?" I demanded, cutting through two of his warriors as I fought toward the chamber's center."I've shown your King exactly how costly overconfidence can prove," Derrick said, gesturing toward the fighting surrounding us. "Every person you brought into this fortress tonight walked directly into a trap I've spent week