"I don''t have time for this,” Alex snapped. “Every second I see you, I remember Charles—and it makes me want to break your damn face."


    “Wait, wait,” Logan said quickly, blood still trickling from his nose. “It''ll take just a second. You''ll want to see this."


    He slipped a ring off his finger. In a blink, a small pic table unfolded on the ground-two chairs, a bottle of old wine, two sses, even a box of ice that hadn''t melted.


    Alex froze, eyes wide. "What the hell...?"


    Logan smiled, proud of the reaction. People always looked stunned when he did this.


    "Everything in the world is strange and marvelous to well-open eyes. See? Wine''s cold, chairs are ready in second." He wiped his nose, poured the wine with the care of a sommelier, and pushed one ss toward Alex.


    Alex stared at the table, then at him. "How did you-" His voice caught between disbelief and curiosity.


    Logan chuckled, reading him easily.


    ‘Men are all the same. Doesn''t matter how broken their hearts are. Give them something new to figure out, and they forget the woman who wrecked them.''


    Logan gestured to the chair. “Sit. Drink. I''ll exin the ring."


    Alex sat down, still on edge. Logan spun the ring between his fingers. "Thises from Prussia-the fifth most advanced nation on Earth. The city of technology itself." He handed the ring across the table.


    Alex took it, turning it over in his palm. It looked ordinary—in metal, nothing fancy.


    “It''s just a ring,” he muttered. "How did you fit all this inside it?”


    "It''s a spatial storage ring," Logan said. "There''s a five-cubic-meter pocket inside it. Big as a small room."


    Alex brushed a thumb over the band, feeling nothing special. “Doesn''t feel like anything.”


    "It won''t,” Logan said with a grin. "It''s bound to my DNA. Without me, it''s just jewelry.”


    Alex slid it back across the table. "Show me."


    Logan slipped it on. The air shimmered.


    The table, chairs, and wine vanished in a blink—gone like smoke in sunlight. Then, with another flick of his wrist, they returned exactly as before.


    Alex leaned back, eyes sharp now, all traces of anger burned off by pure fascination. “That''s..... impossible." Logan raised his ss. "In Prussia, impossible is just another word for yesterday."


    Logan pulled out a small te with steaming vegetables.


    "This meal was cooked months ago,” he said, setting it on the table. “But inside this ring, time stops. Hot stays hot, cold stays cold—forever if you want it to.”


    Alex picked up the food and took a bite. It was fresh. Warm. Unbelievable.


    "Tell me more,” Alex said, leaning back in the chair, wine ss in hand.


    For the first time, the ghosts of Charles and Josephine faded from his mind.


    Logan cleared his throat, ready to talk. "The history of this kind of ring came from the Sixth Country-Xia. Land of cultivators. Their top craftsman forged these things."


    "They call them spatial storage rings. But it''s no simple trinket. Each one''s engraved with forms soplex that only someone with inner force can activate it.”


    He poured himself a sip of wine before continuing. "Later, one of these rings made its way to the Fifth Country -Prussia. The tech capital of the world."


    "They tried to recreate it using machines, algorithms, and quantum codes. This," he lifted the ring between two fingers, “is the result. Only the richest in Prussia can afford one.”


    He handed the ring to Alex.


    Alex turned it in his hand, eyes sharp. “Amazing. Truly amazing,” he said. “But I thought these things weren''t allowed to leave Prussia. Foreigners can''t just buy them.”


    His tone hardened. "Are you a Prussian spy, Logan?"


    Loganughed, pping once. “A spy? For what? You think Prussia or Xia would waste time stealing from us?" He shook his head.


    "We''re Estoria—the poorest country on the. The only thing people want from us is our cheap minerals. Nobody gives a damn about the people."


    Alex smirked. “Then exin it. How''d you get this ring?”


    Logan''s face hardened. The man across from him was Kingswell—the king''s eyes and iron fist—and every sentence Logan spoke could be turned into a noose.


    So he went quiet, watching, lips tight, as if he''d decided to say nothing at all.


    Alex slid the ring back across the table.


    "Let''s get down to business," he said.


    "The king has been watching you. You''ve got more than enough charges to be executed. Greed for the throne, illicit pacts with other states, stirring rebellion those are heavy crimes."  s


    "I didn''t,” Logan snapped, voice thin. "I''m loyal to the king."


    Alex sipped his wine like he was tasting a verdict. "We''re not fools, Logan. We know each other''s hands better than anyone. I''ll make you an offer-one chance to save yourself."


    “Do it, and I''ll tell the king to wipe your te clean. You live. You keep your position, your status, everything.”


    Logan blinked, relief and suspicion battling in his eyes. "Tell me. What do you want?"


    “Citizenship,” Alex said bluntly. “Prussian citizenship."


    Logan let out augh that barely


    covered his unease. "Prussian? I''ve


    heard kingswells are


    everywhere Prussia, Xia but all of


    you are just ghosts in thosends. I bet none of you can ever get real citizenship, can you?"  s


    “Exactly,” Alex cut in. “Immigrants drift through Prussia and Xia with no hope. If someone from Kingswell actually bes a Prussian citizen, it gives our side leverage.”


    Logan''s gaze slid to the moon. "Alex, for most people, getting Prussian papers is impossible. For others, it''s as easy as flipping a coin."


    Alex could see the seriousness settle into him.


    "I don''t have channels to make you Xia," Logan said. “But I have one slot left for Prussia-myst. I''ll give it to you. On one condition."


    "Name it," Alex said.


    "Kill someone in Prussia-in five years," Logan replied.


    Alex''s face didn''t change. "If you can actually make one of us Kingswell Prussian, the king might sign off,” he


    said.


    Logan shook his head, slow and certain. “No. I want you. I saw what you can do. I don''t want any Kingswell— only you."


    Alex nodded once. "Give me a reason."


    Logan lifted his ss and watched the wine catch the moonlight. “My whole family was Prussian once. Our enemy wiped us out-murdered everyst one. I was fifteen when it happened."


    “My butler and I ran—stole a dark boat and vanished. That was forty years ago. I''m fifty-five now. The butler''s


    dead."


    "Why would you think I want the throne?" Logan asked.


    "To use the king''s power against your enemies?" Alex offered.


    Loganughed, a dry sound full of old pain. “Maybe. But what you did today opened my eyes.”


    "Even if I were king, I couldn''t unleash my armies on Prussia without getting wiped out. I''d be crushed."


    "But if I can nt you inside Prussia—make you one of them—you''ll have the reach Ick. You can strike my enemies while I stay out of sight."


    He spread his hands like a man showing a room he owned. “You know I love this life. I''ve had fifty wives, a hundred mistresses-more than I can remember. I enjoy myself."


    "Still, when I was young I swore to my father, my grandfather, and that loyal old butler that I would avenge my family''s deaths. That promise gnaws at me. It keeps me from sleeping.”


    Logan''s face hardened. His eyes turned sharp as knives. "I can give you proof-blood and papers-that you''re my son. Thest Saint ire''s


    family. You would inherit our ancestralnds. content belongs to s


    “Inheritance has a price. The same men who ughtered my family wille for you if they learn you''re a


    Saintire. Will you take that burden?”<fnc9df> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? f?ndnovel</fnc9df>