Five Broken Blades

Name: Five Broken Blades
Author: Mai Corland

by Mai Corland

Genre

Fantasy, Crime, Thriller

Year

2024

Pages

434

Contents

Overview

Five Broken Blades follows six dangerous strangers whose personal debts and private griefs pull them into the same impossible conspiracy: bringing down Yusan’s “god king,” King Joon. In the frozen, failing city of Umbria, scarred enforcer Royo agrees to guard an unnervingly cheerful thief, Aeri Soo, on a treasonous journey south. Elsewhere, Sora—an assassin coerced by a powerful count through her sister’s captivity—is ordered to attempt regicide. And in exile, the presumed-dead prince Euyn Hali Baejkin is found by Mikail, the royal spymaster who offers him a path back to power.

As their paths converge, the group’s plan expands beyond a single murder into a high-stakes theft tied to ancient relics and courtly power. The story turns on hard choices about loyalty, survival, and the price of freedom, asking what people become when rulers treat lives as expendable—and whether any “new king” can truly mean a new world.

Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers

In the decaying northern city of Umbria, Royo makes his living as hired muscle with one rule: he will hurt, but not murder. News that a wealthy young woman in a red cloak is asking for him rattles him because it stirs a memory he cannot afford—Allora (“Lora”), the woman he loved and believes he failed. When an invitation is planted in his inner pocket, proving someone can bypass his vigilance, Royo confronts the summoner at the Black Shoe Inn: Aeri Soo, a skilled thief who claims she needs real protection to reach Tamneki. Her mission is treasonous—remove King Joon’s etherum crown to make him mortal—and she says the royal spymaster, Mikail, is behind it. Aeri offers a priceless diamond and enormous pay, and Royo accepts, driven by money and a hidden deadline: he has been hoarding a fortune to bribe the guard Savio to free Hwan, the imprisoned father of Allora, before King Joon’s new execution edict kills long-term prisoners.

Elsewhere in Yusan, Sora lives as a “poison maiden,” an assassin owned by Count Seok. Seok controls her by holding her sister Daysum as collateral. After Sora completes another kill, Seok orders the unthinkable: assassinate King Joon. The promise is freedom for both sisters—if the king dies—while Seok’s son, Tiyung, is assigned as Sora’s escort and keeper of her indenture.

In lawless Fallow, Euyn Hali Baejkin—officially dead and living as “Donal”—is summoned by red envelope to meet Mikail. Mikail admits he has known for years that Euyn survived exile and proposes an alliance: help kill King Joon, and Euyn becomes the last heir. Mikail also names foreign involvement, tying the plan to Yusan’s sister in Khitan, Quilimar. As Euyn and Mikail travel back toward Yusan, they survive highwaymen and deadly samroc attacks, and their partnership sharpens into a volatile blend of intimacy and mistrust. Mikail’s cruelty surfaces when he insists on leaving no witnesses, and Euyn is forced to reckon with his own past as the “Butcher of Westward Forest,” a royal hunter of prisoners.

Royo and Aeri’s journey nearly ends when pirates attack their riverboat. Royo kills to protect her, and Aeri saves them by pulling them overboard—after which they wake inexplicably dry in a lifeboat, deepening Royo’s suspicions that Aeri is hiding something impossible. Their partnership warms into reluctant care, with Royo confessing his guilt about Allora and his need to free Hwan, and Aeri revealing she is a courtesan’s daughter desperate for belonging and approval.

The conspiracy finally consolidates in Rahway, where Euyn and Mikail meet Count Rune and discover Sora is being positioned as the assassination weapon: immune to poison and able to kill with a kiss once the crown is removed. Sora learns crucially that King Joon’s “godhood” is believed to depend on the etherum crown, and she also realizes Daysum’s last whispered words were not “it’s time,” but “I think I’m dying,” turning Sora’s mission into a desperate race for her sister’s life. Mikail identifies Tamneki’s millennial celebration and its tuhko championship as the one moment Joon will be outside palace control.

On the road to Tamneki, the group is shaken by internal secrets and external pursuit. In Oosant, Sora is kidnapped by the Bulgae gang and used as bait, forcing the others into a brutal warehouse assault that ends in a no-survivors massacre. In the aftermath they discover the warehouse is packed with illegal laoli in royal-marked pouches, suggesting a larger smuggling operation tied to powerful nobles. Soon after, a dead palace assassin appears at Count Dal’s villa in Aseyo, sparking suspicion that someone among them has a hidden connection to the court. Then a messenger reports Dal is dead in Tamneki, cutting off their planned route to introduce Sora to the king; Mikail pivots to using the northern count, Bay Chin, as their access point.

In Tamneki, tensions peak on the eve of the strike. Royo and Aeri admit mutual attachment, and Aeri pays him the promised diamond so he can still save Hwan if everything collapses. Sora and Tiyung grow closer, and Ty reveals he burned Sora’s indenture—making her legally free—even though Daysum remains Seok’s leverage.

The day of the millennial championship, the plan unfolds in layers: Sora and Ty attend tea with Count Bay Chin, who agrees to host them at the arena and promises to introduce Sora to King Joon. Aeri enters the King’s Arena disguised as a valet, while Euyn waits beneath the arena for the signal to surface and be crowned. Royo, searched and effectively unarmed, stands as “guardsmith” near Bay Chin’s box, watching for Aeri and tracking the royal box above.

In the royal box, timing slips as Bay Chin delays the introduction. When the two-minute warning horns finally sound, Aeri acts: she uses a hidden yellow-gem amulet stolen from Prince Omin’s dead body to freeze time at the cost of accelerated aging. In that frozen moment she lifts the etherum crown from King Joon’s head and places it into Mikail’s hand, then resumes time with no one able to explain what happened.

Sora immediately kisses King Joon with Heroti poison meant to mimic a fatal heart attack—but Joon remains perfectly unharmed, smiling as if amused. In a sudden reversal, Mikail slices the crown in half with his flaming sword, only to be knocked unconscious by a guard. Palace guards seize Sora and Ty; Royo sees Aeri arrested and, at her silent plea not to fight, surrenders so he can stay near her. Beneath the arena, Euyn is ambushed by a palace assassin and taken alive, convinced in the moment that Mikail betrayed him.

The captives are brought to Qali Palace and chained together. King Joon arrives wearing an intact Dragon Lord crown, revealing Mikail destroyed only a decoy. Joon exposes Count Bay Chin as his informant and admits the entire assassination attempt was orchestrated as a controlled trap. Then Joon delivers a deeper shock: Aeri Soo is actually Naerium Lin Baejkin, his surviving daughter. He cancels whatever bargain she believed she had earned and, as punishment and leverage against Seok, sends Tiyung to Idle Prison despite Sora’s pleas.

Joon’s “mercy” comes with a condition: the surviving conspirators—Mikail, Euyn, Sora, Royo, and Naerium—must steal the Ring of Khitan from Queen Quilimar. Joon frames their failed coup as an audition designed to locate Euyn, expose Seok’s assets, and test whether this team can steal a relic under pressure. He offers tailored incentives: Euyn’s restoration as crown prince; Sora’s freedom for herself and Daysum and the promise of Ty’s release; power for Mikail; and, for Royo, a pardon and leverage over the truth of Allora’s death and Hwan’s imprisonment. Naerium is offered recognition as princess and acknowledgment of her mother, Soo Lin, as Joon’s first queen. Joon imposes a brutal monsoon-season deadline and threatens their loved ones—Daysum, Royo’s imprisoned innocent, and Mikail’s leverage, Ailor—if they fail.

Escorted out to a ship bound for Khitan, the group sits raw with betrayal and forced cooperation. Yet Sora identifies a crack in Joon’s control: the sheer elaborateness of his coercion suggests he fears Quilimar. Sora proposes turning that fear into leverage by seeking Quilimar as an ally rather than simply a victim, and the others—wounded, angry, but out of options—agree to hear her plan as they are sent toward their next impossible heist.

Characters

Royo

A scar-faced enforcer from Umbria hired as Aeri’s protection, whose secret goal is raising money to free Hwan from Salt Prison before King Joon’s executions. His guarded morality and growing attachment to Aeri push him from paid muscle into full conspirator, then captive.
Aeri Soo (Naerium Lin Baejkin)

A brilliant thief who hires Royo and becomes essential to the plot by stealing the etherum crown using a time-freezing amulet. Later revealed to be King Joon’s surviving daughter, she is both a hidden participant in the king’s manipulations and a reluctant member of the forced Khitan mission.
Sora

A poison-immune assassin coerced into regicide by Count Seok through her sister Daysum’s captivity. Positioned to kill King Joon with a kiss once the crown is removed, she becomes the group’s emotional and strategic center and ultimately proposes using Quilimar against Joon.
Euyn Hali Baejkin

A prince presumed dead after exile who is recruited by Mikail to replace King Joon. Haunted by his past as a royal hunter and by doubts about his bloodline’s right to the crown, he is captured beneath the arena and later offered restoration only if he helps steal Khitan’s ring.
Mikail

Yusan’s royal spymaster and Euyn’s lover who assembles the assassination team and drives the plan to remove the crown and kill Joon. A survivor of the Gayan massacre, he is revealed to be under deep leverage and is forced into Joon’s next operation against Quilimar.
King Joon

Yusan’s “god king,” believed immortal through the etherum crown, who anticipates and stages the assassination attempt as an audition. He captures the conspirators, reveals Naerium’s identity, punishes Seok through Tiyung, and coerces the team into stealing the Ring of Khitan.
Tiyung (Ty)

Count Seok’s son and Sora’s escort, torn between obedience and love for her, who secretly burns Sora’s indenture but cannot free Daysum. After fighting for the group in Oosant and supporting the arena plan, he is sent to Idle Prison by King Joon as leverage.
Daysum

Sora’s younger sister whose captivity and worsening health make Sora’s obedience and desperation believable and urgent. She remains the key hostage used by Seok and later by King Joon to force Sora onto increasingly dangerous missions.
Count Seok

A powerful count who runs the poison maiden program and treats Sora as property, using Daysum as collateral to compel assassinations. His hidden ambitions and cruelty ripple through the conspiracy, including orders that Tiyung later reveals were meant to end with Sora’s death.
Count Bay Chin

The northern count tied to Umbria whose access is used to bring Sora into proximity with King Joon at the arena. Exposed as King Joon’s informant, he trades betrayal for lifted sanctions on Umbria and exits once the trap closes.
Count Rune of Rahway

A conspirator count who hosts the Rahway summit and reveals key mechanics of Joon’s supposed immortality, while treating Sora as a tested weapon. He helps shape the group’s plan by framing the crown removal as the necessary opening for assassination.
Count Dal of Tamneki

The eastern count whose estate serves as a staging ground before Tamneki and who was meant to provide Sora access to King Joon. His sudden reported death destabilizes the plan and forces Mikail to reroute the team through Bay Chin.
Quilimar

Yusan’s royal sister ruling Khitan as regent and wearer of the Ring of Khitan, a Dragon Lord relic. Initially part of Mikail’s claimed backing, she becomes the team’s coerced target—and, by Sora’s proposal, a possible ally—after King Joon forces the ring heist.
Hwan

Allora’s father, framed and imprisoned in Salt Prison, whose impending execution under King Joon’s prison edict drives Royo’s relentless pursuit of money and leverage. His survival becomes a bargaining chip in King Joon’s coercion.
Allora (Lora)

Royo’s first love whose murder by gang goons and the subsequent framing of Hwan define Royo’s guilt and long-term plan. Her death shapes his moral limits, desperation for redemption, and vulnerability to Aeri’s mission.
Yuri

The bartender at Butcher & Ale who first alerts Royo that a woman is searching for him, setting the Umbria thread in motion. Though not central later, he functions as the initial catalyst for Royo’s entanglement with Aeri.
Savio

The guard Royo intends to bribe to help Hwan escape, establishing the concrete cost and deadline behind Royo’s hoarding and willingness to risk treason. His role anchors Royo’s financial stakes to King Joon’s prison purge.
Chul

An Idle Prison convict Euyn once spared, whose testimony helped trigger Euyn’s banishment and whose story exposes the corruption behind “legal hunts.” His family tragedy becomes one of the moral touchstones for Euyn and a suspected link to Seok’s power.
Kito

A boy used as bait in the Tangun Mountain Pass ambush whose death crystallizes the cost of Mikail and Euyn’s path back to Yusan. His brief presence intensifies the story’s themes of exploitation and collateral damage.
Zahara

Mikail’s deputy in the Hall of Spies who confirms she killed Count Dal and briefs Mikail on foreign threats and internal manipulation. Her farewell and intelligence push Mikail toward harsher choices as the coup collapses into royal control.
General Salosa

Commander of the palace guard who pressures Mikail to deliver the “traitors” alive and mirrors the palace’s controlled security posture. He represents the institutional force that frames Mikail’s actions as both covert and monitored.
Ailor

The soldier who rescued Mikail during the Festival of Blood and later becomes King Joon’s leverage over him. Mentioned as someone Joon will ‘take good care of’ until Mikail returns, Ailor embodies the personal hostage power behind Mikail’s obedience.
Omin

Euyn’s brother whose disgrace and rumored violence color the royal family’s history and Euyn’s fears about succession. His dead body is the source of the time-freezing amulet Aeri uses to steal the crown.
Thorn

A palace assassin whose appearance and death in Aseyo foreshadow that royal operatives are shadowing the conspirators. The uncertainty around his orders feeds paranoia about betrayal and palace manipulation.
Soo Lin

Naerium’s mother, referenced through King Joon’s revelation that Naerium is the daughter of Soo Lin and through the promised posthumous recognition of Soo Lin as his first queen. Her role grounds Aeri’s hidden identity in royal politics and personal loss.

Themes

Five Broken Blades organizes its intrigue around a central question: what happens when survival demands the very violence that has already ruined you? Across Umbria’s alleys, Fallow’s badlands, and Yusan’s gilded arenas, the novel treats assassination not as a single act but as a long moral afterlife—one that reshapes love, loyalty, and identity.

Coercion disguised as choice. Nearly every “decision” is made inside a cage. Sora’s killings are priced in Daysum’s safety (Chs. 3, 5, 9), and even her apparent emancipation is undercut by Seok’s continuing leverage over Daysum (Ch. 63). Euyn’s participation is framed as reclaiming a throne, yet Mikail’s plan and Quilimar’s sponsorship reveal how princes can be as handled as pawns (Chs. 6, 26). When King Joon finally reveals the conspiracy was his audition (Chs. 81–85), the book’s brutal thesis lands: power recruits by manufacturing “options.”
The body as weapon—and as evidence. The novel repeatedly turns flesh into both instrument and proof. Sora’s poison-maiden immunity is demonstrated with the dog and the tainted water (Ch. 29), making her body a mobile violation of consent, trained by institutional cruelty. Aeri’s “sleight of hand” becomes literal time theft via Omin’s amulet, with aging as the hidden cost (Ch. 78). Even Mikail’s laoli dependence (Chs. 18, 49) links bodies to empire—colonized Gaya, smuggled narcotics, and the way states extract pain into profit.
Found family forged in blood, then stress-tested by secrets. Royo and Aeri’s bond grows from transactional protection into mutual refuge (Chs. 19, 65), while the group’s survival in Oosant produces a grim “bloodship” (Ch. 49). Yet intimacy is never safe: Ty is ordered to kill Sora (Ch. 21), Mikail withholds motives (Ch. 67), and Aeri’s concealed lineage detonates trust (Ch. 82). The book suggests family is not purity—it is the willingness to keep showing up when betrayal is likely.
The spectacle of sovereignty and the fraud of immortality. Yusan’s public rituals—tuhko championships, sacrificial losers, prison “cleanses” (Chs. 20, 36, 74)—reveal a state that rules by entertainment and fear. The etherum crown symbolizes that propaganda: “godhood” is a relic myth propping up political violence. Mikail slicing the crown—only to learn it was a decoy (Chs. 79, 81)—exposes how regimes survive by staging even their own vulnerability.
Hope as cruelty; vengeance as fuel. Royo’s entire arc is an argument with hope: he amasses money to free an innocent man because he cannot undo Allora’s death (Chs. 15, 36). Mikail’s revenge originates in the Festival of Blood (Ch. 68), and Sora’s endurance is inseparable from the promise of saving Daysum (Chs. 30, 86). The novel refuses easy catharsis, asking whether vengeance can free anyone—or merely keep the machine running under new management.

By ending with Sora’s reframing—turning Joon’s manipulation into an opportunity to seek alliance with Quilimar (Ch. 86)—the book pivots from mere regicide to a larger theme: the only real antidote to tyrannical myth is collective, hard-won trust.