Levi stepped down from the stage in silence.
The square parted almost instinctively as he walked.
No one stopped him. No one dared to.
The same people who once looked at him with distrust now watched him differently.
Not warmly. Not completely. But differently.
Their eyes no longer carried only fear. There was recognition now.
Acceptance.
The weight of understanding settling over them all at once.
Levi kept walking, boots echoing faintly against the stone streets.
The shouts from earlier had faded behind him, replaced by hushed whispers that followed in his wake.
"That's the new Lord…"
"maybe… we do got some hope after all, Maybe Ravenholt really will change…"
His expression remained calm, but he heard every word. Every whisper. Every shift in tone.
A few citizens lowered their heads as he passed. Others stepped aside without being asked. Respect. Or fear. Perhaps both.
Levi exhaled quietly. So this is what it feels like. Not victory. Not satisfaction. Responsibility. Heavy. Suffocating, almost.
Yet his steps never slowed. Behind him, Ravenholt buzzed with uncertainty.
Ahead of him… waited a kingdom that still needed to be rebuilt.
And for the first time since arriving here
Levi realized the people were no longer looking at him as a prince from Ashbourne, or the man who killed their king. They were looking at him as their ruler.
As Levi walked through the streets, an elderly woman suddenly stepped aside and lowered her head.
"…Thank you, my lord."
Levi slowed slightly.
The words were quiet. But genuine.
Levi looked at her and smiled and gently pulled her back up before she could fully bow.
"You don't have to do that."
Levi thinks to himself
"i thought leading a kingdom would be light, like how father usually does, but maybe behind that act i assume, its also as heavy, perhaps heavier than this feeling im getting"
Levi said nothing more and walked away
just silence
his cloak sways faintly behind every step he took.
Behind him. Ravenholt watched in silence, as its new ruler walked by without looking back.
The morning after the executions, Ravenholt was strangely calm.
Not peaceful, just tired.
The sound of hammers echoed through the streets as workers continued repairing damaged homes and broken walls. Soldiers moved alongside civilians now, carrying wood instead of weapons.
Levi walked through the city in silence, his gaze drifting across the battered district before him.
Burn marks still stained the stone roads.
Some buildings remained half-collapsed.
Others looked like they were barely standing through sheer stubbornness alone.
Yet despite everything…
people were rebuilding.
An old man hammered nails into shattered wood outside what used to be a shop.
Nearby, a group of children carried buckets of water back and forth while arguing over whose turn it was next.
Life continued.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But it continued.
Levi's footsteps slowed as he noticed a woman struggling to lift a wooden plank by herself.
Before she could fully raise it, another pair of hands grabbed the opposite side.
Gaius.
The massive count lifted the plank with ease, setting it into place like it weighed nothing.
"You're holding it wrong"
he muttered.
The woman blinked in surprise before quickly bowing.
"T-Thank you, Count Varron,"
Gaius immediately waved it off.
"Less bowing. More working."
Levi watched the interaction quietly before walking over.
"You seem oddly experienced with this,"
he said.
Gaius snorted.
"Ravenholt's nobles liked pretending problems fixed themselves."
He adjusted the wooden beam on his shoulder.
"Someone had to do the actual work."
Levi glanced around the district once more.
Exhausted faces.
Damaged homes.
Empty market stalls.
His gaze narrowed slightly.
"How bad is the food situation?"
Gaius' expression lost its humor almost instantly.
"…Bad."
He lowered the beam onto the ground.
"The nobles hoarded most of the grain during the war."
"Some fled with it. While the rest, where either was burned when the fighting reached the storage districts, or already eaten."
Levi fell silent.
A child ran past him laughing weakly, far too thin for his age.
His jaw tightened slightly.
Winning the war had been simpler.
Kingdoms didn't bleed all at once.
It bled slowly
Levi sighed
"Rest assured. I've already thought ahead, i asked the General to use the remaining funds to buy Food, the fund we get from the corrupt nobles, would be put to both food and fertile land"
Count Gauis eyes widenened slightly, a look that's either Shocked or Impressed or both.
"That's well thought out, my Lord"
he chuckled right after
"if only you arrived earlier"
Count Gauis puts the wooden beam down to where the Lady earlier was gonna put it
"right where were we again, impressive my Lord, i cannot believe you're..."
Levi cuts him off
"20? i guess its in the blood"
Count Gauis laughs and wipes a tear of joy
"must be, alright, talk to you later my Lord, duty calls"
Levi chuckles slightly
"alright let's get to it then."
Count Gauis stares at him, he didnt expect to hear that.
"you're helping?"
Levi answered
"It's only right I of course help, i am the Lord afterall."
Count Gauis laughed heartily
"Let's get to it then."
The two stepped further into the district, joining the workers scattered throughout the damaged streets.
At first, the citizens only stared.
Confused.
Uncertain.
The Lord of Ravenholt carrying lumber alongside common workers was not something they expected to witness.
Levi ignored the looks entirely.
He grabbed one side of a collapsed support beam and lifted it onto his shoulder with ease.
Nearby workers quickly scrambled to clear the rubble beneath it.
"Put it over there!" someone shouted.
Levi nodded once and carried it across the street.
The work itself wasn't difficult.
But the atmosphere around him slowly began to change.
The whispers from earlier returned, different this time.
"He's actually helping…"
"A prince carrying beams?"
"No noble's done that before…"
Levi pretended not to hear them.
Though beside him, Gaius looked far too amused.
"You're causing trouble again, my Lord."
Levi glanced at him briefly.
"…How is helping considered trouble?"
Gaius smirked.
"Because now the workers are actually motivated."
As if proving his point, more citizens slowly began stepping forward to help.
Some carried supplies.
Others began repairing damaged stalls without being asked.
Even the soldiers seemed to move with more energy than before.
Levi watched the district quietly for a moment.
Yesterday, these same streets looked ready to collapse under fear and uncertainty.
Now, little by little, they were moving again.