Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage (16)
I stared at the glowing red window hovering in my vision, the familiar system interface now twisted into something hostile. The words burned themselves into my mind like a brand. Invalid access. As if the very power I had come to rely on was suddenly slamming a door in my face.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not now. Not when I was finally closing in on the thatched cottage hidden among the hills, the place where she waited. Zhuge Liang—brilliant, untouchable, and in this twisted world, devastatingly beautiful—had become my obsession. Three visits. That was the legend. But legends were for men without systems, without the ability to bend fate itself.
I clenched my fist, feeling the faint pulse of Subjugation Authority stirring beneath my skin. The power that had already claimed so many of these gender-swapped warlords and turned their loyalty into something far more intimate. Yet here the system was, spitting errors at me like some petty bureaucrat.
“Again,” I muttered under my breath. The air around the cottage carried the scent of bamboo and distant rain. I could see the faint smoke curling from the chimney. She was inside. Reading. Plotting. Waiting for a hero worthy of her genius.
I took another step forward, boots sinking into the soft earth. The system window flickered once more before dissolving into crimson sparks. A warning? Or a challenge? Either way, I wasn’t about to let some glitch stop me from claiming what was destined to be mine.
The first visit had been polite. The second, insistent. This third one would be different. This time I carried more than gifts and pretty words. I carried the weight of corrupted fate itself.
As I approached the simple wooden gate, the sound of a guqin drifted through the air—elegant, precise, and carrying an undercurrent of something almost seductive. My lips curved into a smile despite the error still echoing in my head.
Let the system throw its tantrums. I had come for Zhuge Liang, and I would leave with her mind, her body, and her unbreakable loyalty wrapped around my finger. Three visits. One conquest.
The door creaked open before I could knock. A woman stood there, robes flowing like ink on silk, her eyes sharp enough to cut through any deception. Zhuge Kongming. In the flesh. More beautiful and more dangerous than any historical record had ever dared suggest.
“You again,” she said, voice cool but not entirely dismissive. There was a spark of curiosity there. Or was it recognition of the power I carried?
I bowed slightly, keeping my expression respectful even as darker thoughts swirled behind my eyes. “This is my third visit, Lady Zhuge. I hope you’ll forgive my persistence.”
Inside, the system may have glitched, but my own resolve had never been clearer. The game of the Three Kingdoms was changing, one beautiful, brilliant woman at a time. And this particular piece on the board was about to become my most prized possession.