Chapter 450 - CH 450 — The Hidden Witness

Night settled gently across Regina Marketplace, where rows of shuttered stalls stood beneath iron lanterns whose warm amber light stretched long shadows over ancient cobblestones still carrying the lingering scent of fresh bread, roasted chestnuts, herbs, and rain-soaked timber from the day's busy trade, while the cheerful voices that had filled the square only hours earlier had gradually given way to scattered footsteps, distant wagon wheels, and the quiet murmur of merchants finishing the last of their work before returning home, leaving the familiar marketplace wrapped in a deceptive calm that concealed far more than it revealed.