Chapter 524: The Heir Games and the Poisoned Bride

Inside the Crystal Dome, an invitation that would've started wars in the past was read aloud.

The Heir Games — an ancient battle of wit, influence, and power — were to return.

This time, hosted at Emerald City's university campus.

But what no one expected…

Was Jayden Ochieng's name to be first on the list of challengers.

He didn't apply.

He didn't even know the Games were happening.

But someone wanted him in. Someone powerful enough to bypass the admission protocols. Someone whose signature at the bottom of the scroll was smudged with dragon's blood.

And just beneath his name, three more shook the room:

Kairos Kova — son of Admiral Kova, known for breaking ribs like twigs.

Tasha Lin — heiress to the Red Silk Conglomerate, master of deception and seduction.

Kessia of Tzaland — his cursed fiancée.

---

Kessia, elegant in black, was preparing for a press dinner that night.

She wore no jewelry — only a simple crystal pendant around her throat that pulsed faintly.

Maggy, now suspicious of Kessia's intentions, confronted her with eyes full of storm.

"You're not here for marriage, are you?" Maggy whispered.

Kessia simply replied, "I'm here for salvation. Whether he survives it or not…"

But someone else had plans to stop Kessia before the wedding.

A fake princess named Selani, an outcast from the House of Crowns, sneaked into Kessia's quarters wearing identical garments. With a poisoned perfume infused into her dress, Selani aimed to take Kessia's place, walk into the dinner, and kiss Jayden.

One kiss.

And his heart would stop.

But the mirror — the cursed relic Kessia always spoke to — flickered violently.

Then screamed.

The entire room exploded in flame.

Selani's body was later found charred, her lips melted, and her face still half-smiling… as if she thought she'd succeeded.

---

As the university's secret archives opened for the Games, Jayden was required to submit his full ancestral name for identification.

For the first time, the name Jayden Ochieng echoed through the crowd.

Murmurs flew like lightning bolts.

"Ochieng… That's a royal surname in the East."

"Wait… wasn't that name erased from the census?"

"The bloodline of the Rainmaker Kingdom?"

Dean Maloro himself turned pale.

Jayden looked confused.

But Comfort slowly turned toward him, her lips parting.

"You… never knew, did you?"

Tielen, who'd long guarded the files, sighed heavily.

"Jayden… Ochieng was your father's true surname. He hid it so they wouldn't find you. So The Rain Pact wouldn't claim you."

Jayden staggered slightly.

The storm inside him had a name now.

Not just Jayden.

Jayden Ochieng — heir to a lost throne. A kingdom destroyed. And a family hunted.

---

The opening ceremony of the Heir Games took place at the Labyrinth of Illusions, where competitors had to find the core of their truth — or go mad.

Jayden stepped in, heart beating, name still echoing in his mind.

Inside the maze, he faced illusions:

His mother, begging him to forgive her.

Comfort, walking away in tears.

Kessia, holding a dagger dripping with his blood.

Himself — on a throne of bones.

Only when he whispered,

"I am not who I was made to be. I am who I choose to become,"

did the walls melt away.

He emerged first.

And behind him, the others began to scream.

---

Far above the city, in a tower no one had entered in a hundred years, Elira watched Jayden through her black mirror.

"She knows," a raspy voice whispered behind her.

Elira didn't flinch.

"Yes. Kessia knows the curse was not hers alone."

She turned, revealing a map burned at the edges. Seven names had been crossed out.

Only one remained glowing.

Jayden Ochieng.

"He was never meant to survive."

---