"Did you see this morning's front page?"
"Machiavelli is Noah Ashen?"
"Once a quiet bodyguard for House Bluerose, now the face of a syndicate and the North's supreme commander "
A tabloid screamed in bold type, the headline bleeding across the page like a deliberate wound.
"Hero or monster?" a broadsheet demanded.
"He led the raid, he saved the first daughter of the Bluerose Household..."
"Was it a rescue, or a staged spectacle to claim glory?"
"Who knew a butler's mansion and a demonic sanctuary could become the stage for our nation's greatest scandal?"
The stories multiplied, each retelling bending the image of Noah Ashen into what each platform needed.
Conservative press framed him as unstable and dangerous, a criminal elevated into command by desperate houses.
Liberal outlets tried to parse nuance.
The whisper networks spun conspiracies.
Did Lord Bluerose shelter criminals for political power?
Did the Chrome Hearts manipulate noble bloodlines to produce a general?
