Place de la Concorde, Paris
April 3rd, 1836
The square had been prepared before the sun reached its height.
It was the same place.
The same open ground where the people had gathered weeks earlier, when the war had first been announced. The same wide space that allowed movement without pressure, order without force. Nothing about its structure had changed.
Only its purpose.
Barriers had been set along the outer edges, not to restrict entry, but to guide the flow of people as they arrived. Guards stood at intervals, spaced in a way that kept visibility clear without forming a wall. Officers moved through the perimeter, adjusting positions as the numbers increased.
By mid-morning, the square was already filling.
