The Valmest territory had been under immense strain for months, its people burdened by uncertainty and quiet desperation. Yet under its new ruler, the atmosphere had begun to shift. It was not a sudden transformation, nor a miraculous recovery, but there was movement- slow, steady, and hopeful. Markets had begun to stir again, the roads no longer felt abandoned, and the people, though cautious, had started to believe that perhaps the worst had passed.
This, however, was Carlos's final night in Valmest.
He would be leaving at dawn. His time here, like everything else in his life, had come with a limit he could not negotiate.
The thought left a strange taste in his mouth.
