At This Moment, in a Cafe.
The afternoon sun filtered through the leaded-glass windows of the establishment, casting long, dusty beams of amber light across the polished mahogany floorboards.
It was a quiet, upscale establishment tucked away in a secluded corner of the Imperial Academy Dimension, in one of its more affluent cities—the kind of place where senior students and student faction leaders came to whisper secrets they dared not speak aloud in the court.
At this moment, in a corner table beside a window, sat Xu Jingshan.
The third prince of the Great Tian Yuan Empire looked like a shadow of his former princely self.
He sat slumped over the table, staring blankly into a cup of lukewarm spiritual tea that had long since stopped steaming.
His high-collared, gold-embroidered robes—usually immaculate and crisp—were slightly rumpled.
