Night, on the outskirts of Backlund's Empress Borough.
This was the highest point in the entire city. On days without smog, even from the distant city center, one could see the towering Gothic clock towers and tiers of magnificent palaces here. Together, they formed the seat of the Loen Kingdom's royal family, Sodela Palace, whose name meant "balance" in Ancient Feysac.
The kingdom's third prince, Edessak Augustus, pushed open the gold-trimmed double doors and returned to his own luxurious chambers, which he had not visited in a year. He closed the doors behind him, leaving the guards and the churches' Beyonders outside.
His Red Rose Manor had long since been destroyed, and his other properties had yet to be restored to his name. For now, he could only stay in the Royal Palace.
Surveying the lavish decor, predominantly gold and black, Edessak sighed. He felt he was no longer quite accustomed to such extravagance.
Over the past year, under the protection of the nobles in Duchess Georgina Augustus's faction and the Churches of Evernight and Storms, he had hidden in a small town in Sivellas County, living no differently from a commoner as he waited for the situation in the country to change.
At first, he had not understood how this "change" would come about, until he heard that Loen had begun preparing for war under various pretexts, and that Feysac had brazenly bombed Backlund and invaded his country.
Then the eldest prince, Gowenton, had rushed to the front and died a heroic death...
At that thought, he suddenly let out a laugh.
What heroic death? It was probably much like his own "death"—both were the handiwork of their merciless father, George III.
Had a senior deacon of the Church of Evernight not arrived at the critical moment and saved