[Raven's POV:]
I sat in my office, poring over the monthly palace budget, the candlelight flickering across the stacks of parchment. My quill hovered midair as I debated a particular cut I'd been considering for weeks now—reducing the palace's expenses to provide a little more funding to the orphanages.
It might sound absurd, but in this capital, there were more orphanages than homes. A truth that still made my chest tighten every time I thought about it.
People here rarely lived past thirty. Some collapsed under the weight of endless labor, while others… ended things themselves, unable to bear it any longer.
The death rate had dropped in recent years, yes—but it was still far from what anyone would call *normal*. This world was far from healthy.
People here needed hope. Desperately so. And for the first time in many years, there was a faint glimmer of it.
Because he appeared.
