Max followed them into the capital, where clean stone streets, fountains, shops, and decorated estates replaced everything he had witnessed during the journey. Wealth surrounded him from every direction, concentrated behind walls that kept the starving villages far enough away for the nobles to forget they existed.
At the highest point of the city stood the royal palace, its white walls covered in gold and its central roof rising above every other building. Hundreds of steps led toward its entrance, where another line of knights waited in complete silence.
Max dismounted at the base of the stairs and handed the reins to one of the servants before looking up at the palace.
