(The Next Day)
I wake up. Or maybe I never actually fell asleep to begin with. Honestly, I don't know.
The morning air is cold and sharp, carrying the faint smell of burning torches and something heavier I cannot name.
Ever since Lucian dropped the news about the public execution yesterday, my mind has been an absolute, chaotic mess. I couldn't get my thoughts together at all.
I sit up in bed, rubbing my temples. Lucian never told me the name. Not even a hint. But whoever it is—someone who has the power and wealth to completely corrupt the elite Elven Bladewardens must be an incredibly high-ranking figure.
A core member of the nobility, or perhaps even a foreign dignitary. And Lucian is giving someone with that much political weight a public execution? He isn't just quietly sweeping this under the rug; he is dragging them into the light to make a terrifying, bloody statement to the entire Empire.
They really found a mastermind of that caliber in just seven days, huh?
