Night fell heavy over the capital.Not the peaceful dark of sleep, but the kind that pressed against the walls, thick and oppressive, as if the city itself feared what was brewing beneath its golden lights.
In her private chambers, Evelyne sat at her writing desk, staring at a letter she hadn't written yet.The candlelight flickered, casting long shadows over the ornate furniture and silk curtains.She didn't notice.Her mind was far away — lost in memories that weren't hers, and yet were.
A battlefield.Blood in the mud.Leonhart, standing alone against the world, broken but defiant.And herself…A blade at his throat.A tear on her cheek.Her voice, trembling as she whispered, "Why did you make me do this?"
Evelyne flinched, breath hitching.The phantom pain clawed at her chest again — the ache that had been growing stronger each day.She pressed a hand over her heart, nails digging in, as if she could rip the memory out by force.
It never worked.
When the knock came at her door, it was soft.Almost afraid.
"Enter," she rasped, her voice raw.
A maid slipped in — the youngest of her attendants, barely older than a child.But her eyes were sharp. Too sharp.Just as Evelyne had intended.
"My lady," the girl whispered, "the contacts you requested… they've agreed to meet. Midnight. At the old merchant's hall."
Evelyne's fingers curled into fists."Good. And the documents?"
The maid produced a sealed packet from beneath her apron."Forged, as you ordered. Your enemies will not trace this back to you."
Enemies.The word echoed in her mind, cold and hollow.Who were her enemies now?The factions that whispered behind closed doors?The nobles who saw her as nothing but a pawn?Leonhart…?No.Her throat tightened.Not yet.Not until she was sure.
She took the packet with steady hands and stood.Her reflection in the mirror caught her eye — and for a heartbeat, she didn't recognize the woman staring back.Her once soft features had hardened.Her violet eyes gleamed with calculation, not innocence.
A queen without a crown.A savior with bloodstained hands.
The streets were quieter at midnight.Her carriage rolled through alleys and side roads, avoiding the main thoroughfares.She wore a plain cloak, hood drawn low — a disguise unworthy of her station, but necessary.
The meeting place loomed ahead:The abandoned merchant's hall, long fallen into disuse after a plague wiped out its former owners.A place forgotten by the world.Much like the people she intended to recruit.
Inside, they waited:Disgraced merchants. Smugglers. Informants cast out from polite society.Scum, by any noble's standards.
But to Evelyne, they were potential weapons.Blades she could aim where no knight or soldier could reach.
She stepped inside, letting her presence fill the dusty hall.Their whispers died instantly.Even these hardened outcasts recognized the aura of someone born to command.
"You know who I am," Evelyne began, voice low but cutting."You know what I can offer: protection, power, wealth.But I will not coddle you.You will serve me, or you will be crushed like the rest."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.Some with greed.Some with fear.
She let them stew a moment, then dropped the forged documents onto the table.Papers that could ruin lords, shift trade routes, collapse entire merchant guilds with a single false accusation.
"I have information your enemies would kill for," she said."And I am prepared to weaponize it.But only if you swear yourselves to me."
Silence.Then, slowly, a man stepped forward — scarred, heavyset, reeking of smoke.He spat on the floor and grunted, "You're serious, aren't you, girl?You're really going to war."
Evelyne's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile."Not war," she whispered."Revolution."
By the time she returned to her palace chambers, the sky was starting to pale with the first hints of dawn.Her body ached.Her head pounded.But her heart…Her heart throbbed with dark, fierce purpose.
She crossed to the window and gazed out at the distant tower where Leonhart slept — unaware, or so she thought, of the fire she had just lit in the underbelly of the capital.
Her lips moved, soft as a lover's sigh."I will not lose to you again.Not in this life.Not ever."
Elsewhere, in his own chamber, Leonhart's eyes snapped open.As if he had heard her vow across the sleeping city.
He smiled, slow and sharp.So…The game had truly begun now.