[Sah'Rumeh Village — The Next Day — Council Hut]
The council hut had fallen silent, not the peaceful silence of agreement, not the calm silence of understanding, but the suffocating silence that followed an ugly truth.
A truth nobody wanted to hear and a truth nobody could ignore. Grand Duke Lior sat motionless behind the wooden table. The parchment trembled slightly between his fingers for the first time in many years...the powerful Grand Duke looked pale.
Genuinely pale, across from him, several officers remained speechless and standing behind him... Kael stared at the document with disbelief written across his face.
The parchment contained the investigation reports and the answers Levin's question had forced them to seek, and now that they possessed those answers...neither father nor son felt relieved, only ashamed.
Kael slowly exhaled, then finally spoke. His voice sounded distant, almost hallow.
