Chapter 50 - Chapter 50: The New Heir

The Royal Council Chamber was designed to make you feel small. Draven had been in plenty of impressive rooms over the past few months—the trial courtroom, Duke Valerius's grand hall, even the King's private study—but this one operated on a different principle entirely. Where other spaces sought to intimidate through grandeur or authority, the Council Chamber achieved its effect through sheer architectural precision. Every line, every column, every piece of carved stonework had been calculated to remind whoever stood within that they were participating in something that transcended individual ambition. This was the heart of governance, where decisions that shaped millions of lives were made with cold rationality.