Commoners gathered around Ryan's mansion and the crowd roared from the outside. Hundreds of people surrounded the gates of the mansion out of morbid curiosity. It wasn't an angry mob. The guards had arrested the Patriarch of the Rihgurd. People were curious about what was happening inside the mansion, why he was arrested and what would the conclusion be.

Ryan stood in front of the patriarch of the Rihgurd family, right next to him, was his son, half-awake and half-asleep. Both of them had their hands tied on their backs with a rope, while they knelt on the floor. Two knights stood right behind the both of them in case of an emergency. The patriarch did not like the state they were in, he had no idea of what was happening and how a normal party had turned into him and his son getting arrested.

"Do you have anything to say, Patriarch?"

Ryan said with a cold tone. There were no emotions behind those words. He gave the patriarch an empty stare waiting for his reply.

"I have no idea why I have been tied down here. I was so busy and you just suddenly kidnapped me-"

Ryan cut him off.

"Silence."

The patriarch immediately shut his mouth. The patriarch was not scared, he was more pissed since he could not make out what was happening. An empty silence fell throughout the room.

An awkward silence usually makes people reveal things, let's see how much of it will be revealed by him.

Ryan kept his silence, while he kept staring at the patriarch. Expecting him to break the silence. He tried to build pressure on the patriarch and make him reveal anything. The patriarch, extremely nervous tried to get his thoughts together. After a while of rummaging through his thoughts, he had calmed himself down just enough to speak.

"Why have I been arrested by your knights, your majesty?"

Ryan still maintained his blank stare.

"Do you not have anything to say?"

"No, your Maj-"

He was cut off by a knock on the door.

"You may enter."

There entered the son of Mines, Walf Mines with 5 other people holding piles of papers, all being evidence of the wrongs the Mines had done in the past.

"Do your job Son of the Patriarch of Mines' family. I give you all the authority to be the one to speak."

"Thank you, your majesty. I will not allow myself to disappoint your approval."

He started listing out all the wrongdoings he had done in the past, starting from rape to all the crimes he had done throughout his time as a noble, these included tax evasion and the improper use of slaves. He even listed out all the people involved in his crimes.

"This is all I have to say, Your Majesty."

He said as he took a step back.

"Is there anything you'd like to say, patriarch?"

The patriarch was at a loss for words. He had nothing to say. All his crimes had been exposed and he was like that of a vulnerable rabbit now, surrounded by 2 apex predators. He could see that even though both Ryan and Walf Mines had a blank expression, both of them were smiling deep down.

"For all the crimes you have performed throughout your life, I will now be ordering an execution right now at the hands of people. Your son will be sentenced to life imprisonment."

"No, Your Majesty. I'm sorry, I'll make sure such a thing does not happen again."

The patriarch cried, while his son lay unconscious.

"Take him to the people and tell the people of all his wrongdoings. Let the people decide what to do with him. If he is left alive, kill him yourself."

Ryan ordered the knights.

One of the knights grabbed the patriarch by his hair and started dragging him outside the room. The patriarch cried asking for Ryan's forgiveness. Ruan, still unconscious, was dragged by another one of the knights and all the people present in the room followed behind the 2 knights.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The only people currently present in the room were Walf and Ryan.

"Thank you, your majesty."

Walf said as he bowed down to Ryan.

"There is no need for you to thank me, with this the nobles will think twice before doing some crime against the kingdom."

"The only major crop producer in your kingdom will now be the Mines family. We will cooperate with anything you ask us to do. Any policy implemented we will follow it. We pledge our eternal loyalty to you. These were the words of my father, Your Majesty."

Ryan smirked.

"I see, so he knows."

Walf had let down his empty demeanor himself and was smiling now.

"It was obvious. We knew that you'd see the Rihgurd family as a threat to your rule. So when we got piles of paper with evidence against the Rihgurd family, right at our doorstep, we knew it was you. It is only you who could possess this amount of information."

Ryan made his way back to his chair and sat on it. Looking towards the table he thought.

If I had let the Rihgurds go like this, I'm sure he would have rebelled against me. If I directly arrested him then it'd have caused a rift between the other nobles and me. So I needed to use someone, the Mines. With this, the Mines have gained a reputation among the other nobles that they will destroy whoever tries to challenge them.

He slid his fingers on the edge of the table. With this, it would be easier to gain control over the other nobles and make them follow any policies I implement.

Ryan stood up and walked towards the only window from which moonlight entered the room. The window was placed behind his chair. He placed his hands on the windowsill.

"Come here Walf and look at them."

Ryan said as he glanced down towards the gates of the castle.

All the people were angry and screamed: "Kill him". The knights pushed the patriarch forward and the people marched towards the patriarch. Punching, slapping, and stabbing him with whatever they had. It took 10 seconds before the patriarch's voice was silenced. The commoners were brutal. They used all their pent-up anger on the patriarch.

A smile crept into Ryan's face. Ryan was not a psychopath. But it felt like a victory to him. It was a win-win for both Ryan and Mines family.

"How did you manage to gain so much information, Your Majesty."

Ryan gained back his composure and did not want Walf to think he was some sort of psycho. He seated back in his chair. The chair was extremely comfortable and made him soothe himself.

"It was not very difficult. Everything was happening in broad daylight."

"Then why didn't he get arrested before, your majesty."

"To run a big nation, larger nobles need to be allowed to do at least some illegal activities. This is one of the rules for the rulers. It is how the King keeps control over the nobles. However, the king if deemed necessary can also back the authority of a noble and liquidate all his assets."

"I understand, Your Majesty. I have learned a lot from your words today. There was another message by father."

Walf said as he got seated on the sofa which was placed on the left side of the table.

"Proceed."

"What about his assets and servants?"

"Since it is one of the largest families they own huge farms. I'll be giving this job of selling all their assets to the Kingdom's treasurers. 40% will be sold to the other noble families, 40% managed by me."

"What about the other 20%?"

Walf inquired.

"That will be used as gifts. Gifts to people who manage to satisfy me, the King."

"I understand, Your Majesty. It is about time I take my leave."

Walf stood up and walked towards the door. Opening the door he moved forward, looked back, and bowed one last time before closing the door.

That's about it for today. I should probably go and get some sleep.

Ryan stood up from his chair and walked towards his room. On the way, he took notice of one of the paintings. It had a brown wooden frame, not unusual for a painting however this particular painting had a different aura.

On further inspection, he noticed that it was a man trapped inside a jar. A painting representing a person feeling trapped. Before he could inspect it more his trail of thoughts was cut off by Lydia.

"What are you doing, your majesty?"

"I am just about to go to sleep. I would like you and Sebas to take care of all the aftermath and clean up everything."

"I understand, Your Majesty."

Ryan took a step towards his room contemplating how his actions today would benefit him in the future.

---

Ryan opened his eyes to a modern concrete road. He was standing at a crossroads which led to 4 paths. The surroundings were extremely foggy. Nothing could be seen further than 2 meters.

Where am I? Just a moment ago I was on my bed.

He continued to inspect his surroundings but failed to understand where he was. He concluded that he was in a dream, or something similar to that of a lucid dream which was not under his control.

He started walking on one of the paths at the crossroad. He continued until he saw a huge wall. Rushing towards it, he noticed four paintings pinned to it.

It seems to be just a normal wall with paintings hung over it.

One of them was the painting of an angel, a humanoid creature with beautiful white wings flying in the night sky. The second and third were blank portraits. Fourth however was a painting he recognised. It was the painting he had seen in his hallway, a man trapped in a jar.

This is the same one I have in my mansion.

He went closer to inspect the painting and touched it. The painting turned into a flash of golden light. Ryan quickly moved his hands to cover his eyes to not go blind from the blinding light. The lights soon reduced in intensity and started to turn into glowing alphabets. These alphabets and words were alien to Ryan.

The characters kept glowing golden and floated around Ryan. Floating around him, these glowing characters gave an aura of knowledge. These words started entering Ryan's forehead one after the other. He tried to touch them but he couldn't. It was like he was trying to touch the air. He soon collapsed.

Ryan woke up on the same bed he went to sleep in.

"It seems I have awakened some sort of magical abilities."

---