For the next couple of days, the realm fell into a heavy, unnatural silence. It was the kind of quiet that felt physical, pressing against your eardrums until you wanted to scream just to break it. The wind itself seemed to turn stagnant, refusing to blow through the jagged mountain passes as if it were afraid to move. Down in the gutters and the dark alleys of the city, the lower demons, those with the keenest instincts for survival, hid in their holes, shivering in the dark. They didn't have the high-level clearance to understand the political chess game being played in the palace, but they knew one thing for certain: a bloodbath was coming, and the air already tasted like iron.
The entire realm held its breath, suspended in a state of terminal tension. And then, on the fourth night aft
