The streets of Red Silk City were once a haven of culture, renowned for its artisan markets and glowing night lanterns. But the scent of fear now lingered in the air, replacing incense with suspicion and steel.
On the fourth morning after the Royal parade, the city gates trembled under the arrival of armored riders bearing the crest of the Kai family's Royal Division.
Clad in blackened crimson armor, their helms forged with dragon scale edges, they moved with brutal discipline. Each step they took sent a message: We are here to cleanse, not to ask. Don't anyone dare hinder the royal soldiers.
At their center rode Lanxia, a woman wrapped in layered violet robes, her face veiled by silver thread, but her piercing aura enough to silence even the city's loudest street criers. She was the second princess of the Kai Empire—and she had come not for diplomacy, but vengeance.
