Unexpected joy at dawn

Eliora Robert had learned from an early age that the world was not a kind place, especially to those who had no one to stand behind them. She had lost both of her parents when she was still young, and although the years had passed, the emptiness they left behind had never completely disappeared. There were nights when she still remembered her mother's voice and the warmth of her father's hand, but those memories had become faint with time. She had no family to return to, no powerful name to protect her and no one she could depend on when life became difficult. She had only herself, and she had learned to live with that. At nineteen, Eliora had become accustomed to loneliness. She did not hate people, but she preferred staying away from them. Relationships required trust, and trust was something she had stopped giving easily. She had watched people change whenever they discovered that she was an orphan. Some pitied her, others looked down on her, and a few treated her as though having no parents made her less important than everyone else. Eliora never allowed their opinions to turn her cruel. If someone needed help, she helped. If someone was struggling, she listened. She simply did not allow herself to become attached. Deep inside, however, there was a part of her that wished things were different. She wanted to know what it felt like to be loved without having to earn it. She wanted someone to choose her and stay. But whenever that thought entered her mind, she pushed it away. She had convinced herself that perhaps she was simply not made for the kind of life other people had. The one thing Eliora had never doubted was her intelligence. She had always been unusually observant, and her mind worked differently from those around her. She could read a document once and remember the important details. She noticed patterns hidden beneath ordinary events, and when people looked at a problem and saw confusion, Eliora often saw a solution. Unfortunately, intelligence could not give her a family name or a place among the powerful people of Avelune. In the kingdom, influence belonged to those who had money, position or royal blood. Eliora had none of those things. Avelune was one of the most prosperous kingdoms in the region. Its cities were modern and beautiful, its government was organised and its royal family had ruled for generations. The King worked with ministers and government officials to manage the kingdom, while the royal family remained at the centre of its political and social life. The palace stood above the capital like a reminder of the power held by the Crown. Eliora had seen it many times from a distance, but she had never imagined herself walking through its gates. That morning, however, she found herself thinking about the palace for an entirely different reason. She sat at the small table in her room with a newspaper spread before her. An article on the front page discussed shortages affecting several regions of the kingdom. According to the government, the problem was temporary and would soon be resolved. Eliora read the article twice before reaching for a pencil. Something about the report bothered her. She studied the figures, compared the regions mentioned in the article and examined the information about transportation and supplies. The explanation given by the government did not make sense. The affected regions were not dependent on the same transportation routes, yet the shortages had appeared at almost the same time. The figures had also been adjusted in ways that seemed insignificant to most people, but Eliora noticed them immediately. She placed the newspaper flat on the table and began writing her calculations. After several minutes, she stopped. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the numbers again. The shortages were not random. Someone had interfered with the supply system. The thought made her uncomfortable. A person would need access to government information and considerable influence to create something like that without being noticed. Eliora wondered who could possibly benefit from causing problems across the kingdom. She knew she should forget about it. It was not her concern, and she had enough problems of her own. She needed to find work soon because the money she had would not last forever. She folded the newspaper and stood from the table. Before she could take another step, someone knocked on her door. Eliora stopped. Nobody ever visited her without warning. She walked towards the door and opened it cautiously. A man wearing a dark official uniform stood outside. The royal emblem embroidered on his chest immediately caught her attention. Behind him was a black government vehicle. "Are you Eliora?" "Yes." The man reached into his coat and handed her a sealed envelope. "You are required to appear at the royal palace tomorrow morning." Eliora stared at the envelope before looking back at him. "Why?" "I was instructed to deliver the message. Nothing more." She slowly accepted it. Her name had been written across the front in elegant black letters. For a moment, she wondered if there had been some mistake. An orphan like her had no reason to receive a royal summons. She broke the seal and unfolded the letter. The message was brief. Her presence had been requested at the palace by order of the Crown. There was no explanation, no mention of why she had been chosen and no indication of what awaited her when she arrived. Eliora looked up. "Who requested this?" The messenger hesitated before answering. "The King." Her heart skipped. The King of Avelune had personally requested her presence. Eliora turned towards the window. From where she stood, she could see the distant towers of the royal palace rising above the city. She had spent years believing that the palace belonged to people who were born into power, people whose names mattered and whose voices could change the lives of thousands. She had never imagined that the palace would have any reason to notice her. Yet someone had noticed. Eliora looked down at the letter again, her thoughts moving rapidly. The newspaper on her table suddenly came back to her mind. The strange shortages. The unexplained figures. The possibility that someone was deliberately creating disorder inside the kingdom. She wondered if the summons had anything to do with it. Then another thought came to her. If the King already knew what she had discovered, how had he found out? Eliora slowly folded the letter and held it tightly in her hand. She did not know what waited for her inside the palace. She did not know that powerful people would soon learn her name, that her intelligence would place her in rooms she had never imagined entering, or that the cold and arrogant Crown Prince would become entangled in her life. For now, she only knew that tomorrow she would walk through the gates of the royal palace for the first time. And somewhere behind those walls, someone had already decided that an orphan like Eliora was important enough to summon before the King.