The Throne Room of
Ivanova was unusually quiet that morning, the kind of silence that made every footstep and whisper echo across its polished marble floors.
Sunlight streamed through the tall arched windows, casting geometric patterns across the tapestries that lined the walls—tales of past victories, of heroes long gone, and of the Ivanova lineage that now rested on the shoulders of its current rulers.
King Ivan sat at the head of the room, his posture erect, eyes steady, but there was a tension in the lines of his face.
The council had gathered for a report, each member bringing updates from the far reaches of the kingdom and beyond.
The air hummed with anticipation, for everyone knew that the northern borders were no longer quiet, and that Alexander II Dracoval of the Draco Kingdom had begun a conquest that had left neighboring lands trembling in fear.
Minister of War, Lord Valerian Koros, a tall man with a sharp jaw and piercing brown eyes, stepped forward.
