The wide study was steeped in silence.
Tall shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, crowded with leather-bound volumes whose spines had faded with age. Framed relics and heirlooms sat encased in glass, objects collected not for beauty, but for the power and history they represented. The air smelled faintly of old paper and polished wood.
An old man sat behind a vast mahogany desk, his presence as immovable as the furniture surrounding him. His silver hair was neatly combed back, his hands folded calmly atop a stack of documents he hadn’t touched in hours. He listened to the ticking of an antique clock with the patience of someone who had learned long ago that time always bent in his favor.
Out of nowhere, the door creaked open.
“Master,” a female servant said softly as she stepp
