*** Snowkeep Palace - Duke's Office ***
The first light of morning crept through the tall, arched windows of the palace archives, cutting across the long tables in thin, golden lines. Dust motes drifted lazily through the beams, glinting like faint embers as they rose and fell with the breath of the room.
It was quiet, almost sacredly so. Only the slow flicker of candlelight and the faint rustle of parchment broke the silence.
Justinian sat alone at the center desk, sleeves rolled, coat discarded over the chair behind him. Before him lay a single book, the Old World Encyclopedia.
Its cover was worn, the letters faded and foreign, but the knowledge within glowed in his mind like fire. He had spent half the night poring over it, every turn of a page feeling like a revelation.
Irrigation methods, early engineering sketches, grain rotation cycles, and even the concept of civic schooling, ideas that could transform his entire duchy if properly applied.
