The air in Tenebrous's palace was thick, charged with an unsettling energy that seemed to seep through the dark stone walls. Sophia, wrapped in a silver gown that shimmered in the dim torchlight, walked through the halls with apparent calm, though her mind was far from calm. Each step echoed in the silence of the palace, the echoes seeming to whisper warnings that only she could hear.
Since she had passed the first trials of the Aren, the atmosphere in the court had changed drastically. She was no longer a mere candidate; now, many saw her as a threat. The Demon King's wives, especially Lyra and Aria, had begun to show a special interest in her, although that interest was closer to surveillance than camaraderie.
