"How did things end up like this?!"
"I knew from the very beginning we shouldn't have trusted Lazarus's grandson!"
"The only ones to blame are the Heads of Sancta Vedelia—another pathetic decision from them!"
"Central Vedelia won't stay silent after what's happening here!"
The voices echoed sharply through the hollow interior of the Holy Tree of Eden. The place that should have been filled with soft music and gentle blessings for the engagement between Cyril and Celeste was now throbbing with tension thick enough to choke on.
The bodies of the invaders—those fools who dared to bring bloodshed into the most sacred place on the continent—had already been disposed of, their presence erased. But the stains they left behind were not so easily removed. Blood had been spilled inside the Holy Tree, a crime considered almost sacrilegious. Even the faint metallic scent lingering in the air was enough to make every noble present bristle with outrage.
