The air inside Constantine’s private study was cool, smelling of old parchment and the residual ozone of the magical device sitting upon his mahogany desk. Outside, the distant cheers of the Black Rose Festival still drifted through the palace windows, a muffled roar of a public intoxicated by Seraphina’s propaganda. However, inside this room, the atmosphere was far more sinister. Constantine sat perfectly still, his eyes closed as he leaned toward a small, crystalline sphere etched with pulsating gold runes. This was an ancient eavesdropping device, a relic recovered during the Orestes campaign, now tuned to the resonance of a specific chamber deep within the Astraia Grand Cathedral.
"The resonance is clear, My Lord," Elena whispered, her fingers hovering over the device’s stabilization
