Reincarnated as Duke’s Heir
Copyright© 2025 by TheSmartOne
Chapter 14: Land of Death
Darkness.
Heavy. Endless. Suffocating.
It was neither warm nor cold. Neither cruel nor kind. It simply was.
A void without light. Without sound. Without time.
He should have felt nothing.
But even in the abyss, his grief remained.
It sat in his chest like a blade lodged between his ribs, refusing to fade.
And then—
Something shifted.
A whisper in the dark. A flicker of sensation.
His mind stirred.
Awaken.
His eyes opened.
...
Lucas’s POV
The first thing he saw was a ceiling of black stone, veined with soft, pale silver.
The second was a woman.
She sat beside him, carefully wrapping fresh bandages around his arm. Her hands were slender, her skin bone-white, her robes flowing black. When she lifted her gaze, her empty eyes glowed with a dim, spectral light.
She was not alive.
An undead.
Lucas stared at her.
The woman blinked, then inclined her head.
“You are awake.”
Her voice was soft. Calm. Careful.
Not cold. Not hostile.
... Caring?
Lucas didn’t move.
His body felt weightless—too light, too whole.
That wasn’t right.
He should be broken. He should be in agony.
He should still be burning.
But the fire was gone.
Instead—there was only hollowness.
“You have been unconscious for three months,” the woman continued, tying the last bandage with delicate fingers. “You are in the Kingdom of Evernight. Also known as the Land of the Dead.”
Three months.
Kingdom of Evernight?
Never heard of it.
Lucas closed his eyes.
He tried to feel something. Shock. Confusion.
But all he felt was emptiness.
The woman did not press him. She simply folded her hands in her lap and spoke again.
“The Queen has been waiting for you.”
Lucas’s eyes opened.
His voice was hoarse. “The Queen?”
“The Queen of Death and Decay.”
The words meant nothing to him.
A Queen? Of what?
He had never heard of this kingdom. Never heard of its queen.
So why the hell would she be waiting for him?
The woman hesitated, then added, “She is the one who saved you.”
Lucas still said nothing.
But now, a flicker of suspicion cut through the numbness.
Saved him?
For what purpose?
The woman stood.
“I will inform Her Majesty that you are awake.”
With a final bow, she turned and left.
Lucas remained still. Trying to be cautious.
But it’s useless. Because in his state, he can’t do anything.
His fingers twitched against the silk sheets. His breath was steady.
But inside—
Everything hurt.
Not his body. Not his bones.
His soul.
A festering, bleeding wound that no amount of bandages could ever mend.
He closed his eyes.
...
She came without sound.
The air itself stilled.
And then—
She was simply there.
Not a footstep. Not a whisper.
Like she had always been here. Watching. Waiting.
Lucas felt it before he saw her.
The weight of something vast pressing against reality itself. The room—no, the very air—shuddering under her presence.
And then he saw her.
She was tall—regal, poised, her violet hair cascading like liquid moonlight. Her gown, black and laced with shimmering violet embroidery, moved as though woven from the very essence of midnight.
Her eyes—voids.
Twin abysses, deep and endless, darker than the grave.
And the power that bled from her—
It was not just strength.
It was dominion.
The weight of a million souls lingered in the air around her. The whispers of the dead, the echoes of forgotten pain, the final gasps of kings and tyrants long since buried—
She carried all of it.
And beneath it all, beneath the abyss of death itself—
She was watching him.
Lucas tensed.
What the hell am I looking at?
He had seen powerful beings before. His father, wreathed in flames. The warriors of Sylvaris, who could split mountains with their blades.
But this was different.
She didn’t just radiate power.
She was power.
Her lips parted.
“You have awakened.”
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