Expanding the Dominion (4)
I stared at the glowing red warning that had suddenly flooded my vision. The familiar system interface, usually so obedient, now spat back nothing but rejection. My fingers twitched as if I could physically reach into the air and force the damn thing to work.
This isn't supposed to happen. Not now. Not when I'm this close to tightening my grip on the next region.
The candlelight in the tent flickered across the maps spread before me. Outside, the low murmurs of my loyal subordinates—women whose wills I'd already reshaped into perfect instruments—drifted on the night wind. I'd spent weeks preparing this move. Weeks of careful whispers in the right ears, nights spent binding bodies and minds alike until resistance became nothing more than a forgotten dream.
But the system had other ideas.
Current Controlled Territory: 3 provinces
Next Expansion Target: Jingzhou region
Compatibility: ERROR
Resistance Threshold: BLOCKED
Reason: Unauthorized acceleration of conquest protocol.
I slammed my fist on the low table, sending ink brushes scattering. The sound brought immediate footsteps. The tent flap opened, and in stepped a figure whose every movement still carried the ghost of her former pride—now deliciously tempered by the invisible chains I'd wrapped around her soul.
"My lord?" Her voice was soft, perfectly modulated. The way she said it made clear she no longer remembered speaking to me with anything but reverence. "Is something wrong? Your heart rate..."
She didn't finish. She didn't need to. I'd made sure her new instincts included constant monitoring of my condition. Another useful modification among many.
"The system is being difficult," I muttered, forcing my expression back into the calm mask I wore for them. "It seems expanding my domain this quickly requires... additional authorization."
Her eyes—once sharp enough to command armies—now held only concern for my satisfaction. She knelt gracefully beside me, the silk of her robes whispering against the floor mats. "Then allow this humble servant to assist. Whatever you require, my body, my influence, my remaining connections in the capital... they are all yours to command."
I reached down, tilting her chin up so our eyes met. The faint haze of compulsion flickered behind her pupils, a signature only I could see. It was beautiful. Perfect. And yet the system's sudden gatekeeping threatened to slow the momentum I'd spent months building.
If it won't give me the next level of control freely, I'll simply take it. The old-fashioned way.
"Prepare the carriage," I told her, my voice dropping into that register that always made her breath catch. "We're moving on the border fortress tonight. If the system wants to play games with my authority..."
I smiled, the expression carrying none of the warmth my subordinates had come to crave.
"...then I'll just have to remind it who truly holds the reins in this world."
The night air was thick with the scent of coming rain as we rode out. Behind us, the camp dissolved into efficient motion—my growing collection of influential women moving like extensions of my own will. Each one carefully selected, each one thoroughly conditioned.
I could feel the system's resistance like a weight on my chest, but resistance had never stopped me before. In this rewritten version of the Three Kingdoms, where legendary strategists and warriors wore beautiful faces and even more beautiful chains, I had already bent history itself to my desires.
Jingzhou would fall. The next layer of my dominion would expand. And if the system continued to deny me direct access...
Well. I'd simply corrupt the corruption itself.
After all, I'd already turned the purest hearts into willing instruments of my pleasure and power. What was one stubborn interface compared to that?