The first sentence.
A 12,000-word burst this afternoon.
The second sentence—quite unexpected. I never thought there would be a second birthday.
The third sentence. So hard.
Now, please take a look at a set of figures.
Lord of the Dark Night began publication on August 8, 2023. That month, its monthly votes did not make the top 500, with no ranking recorded.
September 2023: 3,955 votes, ranked 389th.
October 2023: 10,013 votes, ranked 123rd.
November 2023: 6,139 votes, ranked 151st.
December 2023: 8,816 votes, ranked 148th.
January 2024: 7,974 votes, ranked 147th.
February 2024: 6,273 votes, ranked 163rd.
March 2024: 9,462 votes, ranked 124th.
April 2024: 13,831 votes, ranked 105th.
May 2024: 11,189 votes, ranked 118th.
June 2024: 8,530 votes, ranked 139th.
July 2024: 10,293 votes, ranked 110th.
August 2024: 9,737 votes, ranked 87th.
September 2024: 13,268 votes, ranked 82nd.
October 2024: 9,737 votes, ranked 92nd.
November 2024: 14,739 votes, ranked 82nd.
December 2024: 30,962 votes, ranked 48th.
January 2025: 50,566 votes, ranked 27th.
February 2025: 24,845 votes, ranked 38th.
March 2025: 30,565 votes, ranked 34th.
April 2025: 29,825 votes, ranked 52nd.
May 2025: 47,491 votes, ranked 25th.
June 2025: 28,852 votes, ranked 36th.
July 2025: 27,589 votes, ranked 35th.
It is now August 2025. As of today, 9,547 votes, ranked 26th.
These are the footprints of Lord of the Dark Night over its two years of publication.
On August 8, 2023, when I typed the four characters "Lord of the Dark Night," everything was calm.
At the time, I had just come out of the aftermath of my previous book's disastrous ending and a period of illness.
By then, the nine months of pain that had continued second after second with every beat of my pulse had crushed all my fantasies. All that remained was composure and calm.
As