The next day
Royal Capital, Luminaris
Grand Assembly Hall.
The massive bronze doors of the Assembly Hall stand open, sunlight spilling across polished marble floors. The hall is enormous, wide enough to host a thousand, tall enough.
Today, it feels suffocating.
Nobles in elegant robes stream inside, their footsteps echoing sharply.
Countesses whisper behind jeweled fans.
Viscounts speak in hushed, worried tones.
Marquises share fleeting glances that betray fear.
None of them have been summoned like this in decades.
And a royal summons from a bedridden king…
Unthinkable.
"Why were we called so urgently?"
"I heard something's happening in the Duke's territory."
"No, that can't be it. I never gotten any reports, and I'm close to lord Charles's territory."
"Then why the king? Why now?"
"Did something happen to His Majesty's health?"
"I heard Marshal Stegran left his palace at dawn. Imagine that! He hasn't come to a council in fifty years!"
