It was the first time Dalia had stepped outside the palace to see Elysium with her own eyes.
Claude had meant to take her much earlier, but shame had always held him back. The capital—and the condition of its common folk—had once been so poor, so far from what he envisioned, that he couldn't bear to show it to her. And so, he delayed.
But today, he finally decided it was time.
Soon, he would be too busy—entangled in strategies, administrative tasks, and war preparations. The future loomed dark, with a great war on the horizon and plagues ravaging the outside world.
Elysium had to be fortified. And before all that began, he wanted Dalia to see the city he ruled.
Curiously, the capital still didn't have a name. It had remained simply "the capital" for centuries, perhaps because it was the only inhabited land Elysium had to begin with.
To Claude's relief, the city was in better shape than he remembered. The people wore warm, decent robes, their faces no longer gaunt with hunger.
