Francisco was exhausted.
Yet that Afternoon, after discovering an alternative to Watt's steam engine, he felt an unmistakable sense of happiness. Fatigue weighed heavily on his body, but his mind was alight. After all, he had not only dismantled one of the pillars of British industrial hegemony—he had truly understood the principles of the steam engine itself.
By the time he returned home, he would likely be capable of industrializing New Granada.
The thought steadied him.
Of course, worry lingered in the back of his mind—Antioquia, his father's fall, the uncertainty of it all. But Francisco trusted that once his grandfather managed to reunite with him, together they would become one of the strongest forces on the continent. And after hearing of Spain's defeat in Europe, that future felt closer than ever.
