CHAPTER 41: LIN ROEN

Lin wasn’t here.

Everybody was waiting.

The heiress, the new CEO, the supreme leader, the one who sat at the top of the Roen Tower - Lin Roen.

The girl with all her fears sealed tightly in her chest. The girl who was afraid. The lonely girl.

She was simply not there.

———

The corridors outside the hall were unusually silent. Not the poised quiet of order, but the brittle hush of something waiting to break.

Abe stood just outside the entrance, arms crossed too tightly over his chest, his normally boyish face drawn with tension. Elune stood beside him, fidgeting. Her eyes darted between shadows that hadn’t moved in hours, and her smile hadn’t returned since she last saw Lin.

Cain was already inside, pacing slow, deliberate loops behind the row of council seats. His presence anchored the space, but even he couldn’t keep the unease from bleeding into the room like damp.

"She’s not coming, is she?" Elune asked, her voice barely above a whisper. It sounded more like an expression of wishful thinking than a question.

"She will," Abe said, reluctantly. Abe couldn’t pull out his charm to comfort Elune. Not today, not here.

They had not seen Lin since the Whisper Room. No one had. The door to her office remained closed. Every time Cain, Abe, or Elune tried to enter, the two guards from Zhen house denied them - "Miss Roen is very occupied at the moment" was what they always said.

No new orders had been issued. No messages relayed. Not even Elune had been summoned.

And yet, the Grand Council had been convened - for the first time in years.

The Grand Council was not a regular meeting. Neither was it just a formality, an occasion.

It wasn’t a ceremonial event. Nor was it a tradition.

It was a statement.

Unlike the Council meeting that took place in the corporate meeting rooms, or the Senior Council meeting that took place in the depth of the Rowen Tower, the Grand Council took place in the Hall of Order. As the name implied, it was not a place for discussion or debates.

Every seat but one was filled now, each house, from minor to major, sent a representative draped in veils and power. Both the regular Council and the Senior Council members were all present. The weight of tradition, politics, and unease hung in the air.

Only the central chair - the seat of the Roen heir - remained empty.

The door opened with a precise click.

Cassian Vale stepped in first, gloved and radiant in understated formalwear, followed by Yu Zhen from the House of Zhen, dressed in the green-gray. He was older, clean-shaven, and smiled with a serenity that felt modestly triumphant. They moved without hurry, yet cut through the dense tension that gripped the audience.

"Esteemed Councilors, and representatives of houses" Cassian began, pausing just enough for his presence to register. "Thank you for assembling on short notice. The Chair will arrive shortly."

He didn’t have to add prepare yourselves. It was in the breath he took, the soft pressure he placed on the last word. The whisper behind his composed smile.

Then the lights dimmed - slightly, automatically - just enough to make the high windowpanes feel farther away.

And without any ceremonious announcement, everybody felt it.

Because her presence entered before she did.

Lin Roen stepped through the archway.

She wore the black ceremonial blazer from the Whisper Room, the silver-threaded sash now draped over one shoulder and pinned with the brooch—the Roen sigil. Her hair was sleek, exposing the full lines of her face - unreadable, unblinking, deliberate.

She didn’t look at anyone.

She didn’t need to.

Her footsteps made no sound. Her gaze was firmly focused on the present. Nobody was allowed to stand on the credibility they had built over the years. Nobody was allowed to live on promises for the future. Each step felt etched with something heavier than memory - like a verdict.

Cain twitched under his eye.

Abe’s smile disappeared from his face.

Elune clasped her hands in front of her chest.

But Lin did not acknowledge them. She simply ghosted past.

When she passed between the rows of seated councilors, the Vale envoy bowed deeply. The Zhen envoy folded his hands across his chest in silent reverence. No one spoke. No one dared.

She arrived at the end of the Hall of Order. There was a seat on the elevated stage. A throne with no decoration because the one who could take this seat had nothing to prove.

Lin walked up the steps slowly. She was ascending to be an untouchable being.

Some of the oldest members present tried to remember.

Had there ever been a time when someone climbed those steps unaccompanied by Luc?

This was unprecedented.

Once she reached the top, she stood still for a moment, her back still facing the members present.

Everyone’s heart stopped. Everyone understood why they were summoned to attend.

Lin wasn’t here to announce anything. She wasn’t here to give a new order or provide a vision. She only wanted everybody to witness it.

After a long pause, Lin finally turned.

And sat.

Not with hesitation.

Not with pride.

She sat like she had always belonged there, like the years of emptiness in that chair had merely been waiting for her.

Cassian’s eyes did not waver.

Yu Zhen lowered his gaze to the floor, his expression unreadable.

A ripple of movement passed through the rest of the room - robes adjusted, notes shuffled, breaths drawn for the first time in minutes.

Before their eyes was a woman who had it all. Everything and everyone here was under her command. The new heiress looked secure, confident, and composed. There was no hint of nervousness or discomfort at all. It was as if she had been preparing for this moment for centuries.

So Lin Roen sat on her throne and looked down at everyone.

She was everything that she couldn’t be.

She had everything that she couldn’t have.

Now she had it all.

But Lin Roen - she simply wasn’t there.