Reborn In The Three Kingdoms - Chapter 780

Chapter 780: 746. Long Live King Jungcheon The Puppet
Behind them, Dal Gae fought like a madman, trying to buy them precious seconds. But the odds were impossible. A spear and a sword took him in the side and on his back. “RUN, YOUR MAJESTY!” he bellowed, even as blood frothed at his lips. King Sansang’s last sight of his loyal advisor was of the old man standing firm, sword raised, as a dozen blades descended upon him.

Then Mo Du pulled him into the shadows, and they ran to stay alive.

Meanwhile, at Queen Woo’s family estate outside of Gungnae, Queen Woo stood at the window of her family’s estate, her fingers digging into the sill.

In the distance, smoke rose from the palace.

She had known this would happen. She had wanted it to happen.

And yet—

Her knees buckled. She caught herself on the windowsill, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

“What have I done?”

The door burst open. Her maids rushed in, their faces pale. “Your Majesty! The king, he’s been overthrown! The palace is in chaos!”

Queen Woo closed her eyes. The game was over.

On the other hand, by nightfall, the coup was complete. The purge was swift, methodical, and utterly ruthless.

Under Li Wei’s direction, the reign of King Sansang was scrubbed from the stone pillars of Goguryeo’s power, like ink washed away from parchment.

The loyalists, those brave or foolish enough to resist, were swept up with brutal efficiency. Royal clans who had once stood tall beside the throne were unceremoniously stripped of their titles, their ancestral lands seized, their banners lowered in silence.

Those not outright executed were placed under house arrest, guarded day and night by stoic men from the Lie Clan Supervision Bureau, their loyalty beyond reproach.

Families that had served Goguryeo for generations now watched through barred windows, their futures carved away with the same precision used to place Lie Fan’s allies in the highest echelons of power.

Every post, every decision making seat, every gate and treasury, and sword arm of the court, Li Wei had seen to it all. The vacuum of power left in the wake of the king’s overthrow was quickly filled by those who had already sworn fealty to Lie Fan in whispers and sealed scrolls.

General after general, minister after minister, they stepped forward to claim their new roles under a regime born not of succession but subterfuge.

Yet what made this coup more insidious was its quiet. There were no riots, no weeping in the streets. The common people were told a tidy lie, that their king had stepped down for the sake of stability, and that a successor from the royal bloodline lineage would soon be chosen.

For the poor farmers and traders who toiled day by day to survive, it mattered little who sat on the throne so long as their taxes remained steady and their homes remained untouched by fire.

But the elite, the old noble houses, the merchant dynasties, the scholar families, they knew. Their sons were arrested in the dead of night. Their daughters were barred from court.

Their libraries were searched, their letters confiscated. The Oriole agents had done their work well. It wasn’t just Gungnae that bent to the will of Lie Fan, it was every province from the coastlines to the border forts. A silent purge, coordinated and ruthless.

And when it was all said and done, when the flames from the palace’s broken windows no longer glowed against the night sky, Li Wei mounted his black steed and rode with purpose.

His destination, the estate of Queen Woo.

It lay quiet and heavily guarded, nestled in the hills outside of Gungnae, where the Queen had taken refuge or, perhaps, been exiled while the palace was swallowed by rebellion.

Her family’s estate had once been a place of serenity, the gardens manicured, the air scented with magnolia and pine. But now, soldiers in gray and black patrolled the grounds, their faces expressionless beneath the sigils of the Lie Clan Supervision Bureau.

Queen Woo stood beneath the cherry blossom tree in her courtyard, the last petals of the season drifting around her like snow. She had changed from her palace silks into the pale blue robes of her youth, simple and unadorned, as if returning to the girl she had once been. Yet the lines in her face, the set of her jaw, said otherwise.

Li Wei dismounted and entered the courtyard without waiting to be announced. Behind him trailed a trio of high-ranking Bureau officials, each marked by the iron pins on their collars. Queen Woo’s handmaidens bowed deeply, trembling as they backed away.

“Your Majesty,” Li Wei said, his voice calm, respectful, but not deferential.

Queen Woo turned slowly. Her eyes were shadowed with fatigue, but they met his without flinching. “Don’t call me that,” she said softly. “We both know the crown means nothing now.”

Li Wei gave a slight incline of his head, then gestured to the bench beneath the tree. “May we speak?”

She did not answer immediately. Instead, she looked past him, at the guards, at the Bureau officers standing like statues, at the silent way her home had been turned into a cage. Finally, she sat.

Li Wei took his place beside her, leaving a respectful distance between them. “It’s done,” he said. “The loyalists are pacified. The court is ours. All that remains is the matter of transition.”

“To a new king.” She stared ahead. “A puppet.”

“A unifying figure,” Li Wei countered. “Someone of the royal bloodline, with no real power but all the legitimacy we need.”

“And you want my family’s support.”

Li Wei’s silence was confirmation.

Queen Woo gave a bitter laugh. “After everything you’ve taken from me?”

“We’ve given you the world in return,” Li Wei said, his tone never rising. “Your birth family still holds influence among the old nobility. If they publicly support the transition, they will retain their lands, their titles, and their lives. If they refuse… well.”

He didn’t need to say more. She understood.

“And if they refuse?”

Li Wei stood slowly, brushing imaginary dust from his robe. “Then you will be offered a choice. You, and one person of your choosing, will be relocated. Given new identities. Wealth. Security. But your family will share the fate of those who cling to a dead king’s legacy.”

Queen Woo’s hands curled into fists in her lap. Her eyes shone, not with tears, but fury. “You think I will sell them out so easily? My parents, elders, brothers, my sisters, my kin?”

The queen’s nails dug into her palms. “You are a monster.”

“I am a pragmatist,” Li Wei corrected. “And so, I think, are you. You betrayed your husband to save yourself. Will you now betray your family to save them?”

Queen Woo’s breath hitched. The truth of his words cut deeper than any blade. Then a silence fell between them, broken only by the wind stirring the blossoms.

“When do you need my answer?” she asked at last.

“By the next full moon.”

Queen Woo nodded once. Then, without asking permission, she stood and walked away, her robe whispering against the stone. She did not look back.

As she disappeared into the estate, one of Li Wei’s officers stepped forward. “She will agree, my lord,” he said. “They always do.”

Li Wei watched the doorway where she had vanished. “Perhaps. But she is not like the others. If she says no, she won’t beg, but I think she will choose the survival of her family.”

The officer frowned. “Should we increase security?”

Li Wei shook his head. “No. Let her feel free. It makes the choice more real.”

And with that, he turned and left the estate, his shadow stretching long across the path.

Behind him, within the walls of her ancestral home, Queen Woo stared at the family portraits lining the corridor. Heroes, diplomats, and kings by marriage. Each face stared down at her in silent judgment.

“What would I do?” she whispered to them. “How do I protect them all, when the only path to survival is just another betrayal?”

The answer, of course, would not come from portraits. Nor from ghosts. It would have to come from her.

That night, the Woo family gathered in secret.

The patriarch, Lord Woo Hyun, sat at the head of the table, his face ashen. Around him, his sons and brothers murmured in hushed, furious tones.

“We cannot submit!” Woo Joon, the eldest son, slammed a fist against the table. “This is *treason*! If we bow to these outsiders, we betray everything Goguryeo stands for! We can replace Sansang, but we can’t overthrow our dignity!”

“And if we don’t, we die,” countered Woo Min, the second son, his voice weary. “Li Wei was clear. The purge is not over. We are being given a choice, compliance or extinction.”

Queen Woo sat apart from them, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes distant. She had laid out Li Wei’s terms without embellishment. Now, the decision was in their hands.

“What of Sansang?” Lord Woo Hyun asked suddenly, his gaze sharpening as it settled on his daughter. “Does he still live?”

Queen Woo’s throat tightened. “I… do not know.”

“Liar,” Woo Joon spat. “You’ve been working with them suddenly without informing us. How do we know this isn’t another of your schemes?”

The queen flinched as if struck.

“Enough,” Lord Woo Hyun snapped. He turned to his daughter, his voice softening slightly. “What do you advise, my child?”

Queen Woo closed her eyes. When she opened them, her voice was steady. “I advise survival.”

Silence.

Then—

“Then we submit,” Lord Woo Hyun said heavily. “For now.”

Woo Joon surged to his feet. “Father—!”

“We are not defeated,” the old lord interrupted, his voice like iron. “We bend so that we do not break. We live so that we may fight another day.”

His gaze locked with his daughter’s. “Is that not right, my queen?”

Queen Woo said nothing.

But in her heart, she knew the truth.

There would be no fighting. Not anymore.

Goguryeo belonged to Lie Fan now.

Three days later, in a ceremony stripped of all grandeur, Sansang’s young nephew was crowned King of Goguryeo, taking the name Jungcheon.

The boy, barely sixteen, was a timid thing, his hands trembling as the heavy crown was placed upon his brow. He recited his vows in a voice that cracked with fear, his eyes darting again and again to where Li Wei stood at the foot of the throne, smiling faintly.

The court bowed. The people cheered, though few understood what they were cheering for. And Queen Woo, standing at the back of the hall, watched as the last remnants of her husband’s legacy were erased before her eyes. Li Wei caught her gaze across the room. He raised a cup in a silent toast. She did not return it.

______________________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Overlord Of The Central Plains

Age: 34 (201 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 462,000

Renown: 1325

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,121,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 951 (+20)

VIT: 613 (+20)

AGI: 598 (+10)

INT: 617

CHR: 96

WIS: 519

WILL: 407

ATR Points: 0