The office door remained closed for several seconds after Kasian's departure.
No one moved.
The silence was heavier than any shouting...
Finally Drian said:
"Give the order... and I will follow him."
Louai raised his head slowly..
"To do what?"
"Arrest him."
Louai smiled a small smile..
"On what charge?"
"......"
"That he said words that frightened us?"
Silence fell.
Seron said as he turned one of the documents:
"He succeeded."
Drian looked at him with surprise.
"Succeeded in what?"
Seron answered without raising his eyes:
"He entered this office to take us out of the battle of evidence..." He raised the document. "...and into the battle of doubt."
Louai looked at the documents again.
Then he closed the bag in one decisive motion.
The sound of closing was final.
"I will not review them."
The two men looked at him in surprise.
Drian said:
"What?"
"I will not review the documents."
"But..."
Louai interrupted him.
"That is exactly what he wants."
He approached the window.
"If I spend the night reviewing thousands of papers... he has won."
He turned to them.
"The war is not about the validity of the documents. But about whether I will lose faith in myself."
Seron sat slowly.
Then he said:
"Then what will we do?"
Louai smiled for the first time in days.
"We will do something he did not anticipate."
He approached the map hanging on the wall.
And pointed to the capital.
"Tomorrow... I will not go to the Emperor."
Drian's eyes widened.
"What?!"
"Kasian expects me there."
Seron looked at him.
"And Myra too."
Louai nodded.
"And that is an additional reason."
Drian said sharply:
"But we spent weeks preparing for this day."
"True."
"Then why delay it?"
Louai smiled.
"Because everyone knows I will go."
He approached the table.
"If you know where your enemy will stand... then why give him the ground he wants?"
Seron said quietly:
"Then... where will you go?"
Louai opened a small drawer.
And took out the document Eilis had given him.
Then he placed it alone on the table.
"To the owner of this paper."
Drian said:
"Eilis?"
"Yes."
"But she is only a witness."
Louai smiled.
"Rather, she is the one thing Kasian cannot forge."
The two men looked at him.
Louai continued:
"Documents can be forged. Signatures can be imitated. Seals can be manufactured." He raised the document. "But... a person cannot be copied."
Silence fell.
Seron said finally:
"So you do not want evidence..."
Louai answered:
"I want someone to stand behind the evidence."
On the other side of the palace...
Kasian sat alone.
One of his men entered.
"My lord."
"Speak."
"The Prince has left his office."
Kasian smiled.
"To the Imperial Palace?"
The man shook his head.
"No."
The smile vanished.
"Where to?"
"We do not know."
Silence fell.
For the first time... a very small crack appeared on Kasian's face.
He said quietly:
"Ask again."
The man hesitated.
"My lord?"
"I said... ask again."
The man swallowed.
"Where did the Prince go?"
Kasian looked through the window.
And said for the first time in a different tone:
"That is the question you should have asked from the beginning."
At that same moment...
Myra was reading a report that had arrived from one of her handmaidens.
She finished it.
Then closed it slowly.
"He did not go to the Emperor."
The handmaiden said:
"As you expected?"
Myra smiled.
"No..." Then she raised her head. "...as I feared."
Inside a simple black carriage bearing no royal insignia...
Louai sat alone.
The leather bag beside him.
But it... was empty.
As for the real documents... they were not with him at all.
He looked at Drian, who was driving the carriage.
And said quietly:
"If they are watching us now... they will think everything is with me."
Drian smiled.
"And you have nothing."
Louai shook his head.
"The only thing I carry..." He placed his hand on his inner pocket. "...is Eilis's paper."
Then he looked through the carriage window at the capital's streets.
"They all think the battle will be before the Emperor."
Silence fell.
Then he whispered:
"But the real battle... will begin before the Emperor even knows it exists."
And the carriage continued its path through the narrow alleys, while all sides of the game began to realize one truth...
Louai had finally stepped out of the cycle of reaction.
And had become the one setting the rhythm of the game.
The carriage moved slowly through the old alleys of the capital.
No royal banners.
No guards drawing attention.
Not even the driver wore the emblem of House Oswald.
Louai wanted to appear ordinary... because ordinary men are watched by no one.
But this was an illusion.
Drian said, looking through the window:
"We have a tail."
Louai did not turn.
"How long?"
"Since we left the palace."
"How many?"
"Three carriages."
"Kasian's men?"
Drian shrugged.
"Or Myra's."
"Or the Emperor's."
Louai smiled.
"Or a fourth party we do not yet know."
Silence fell.
Then he said:
"We do not run from them."
Drian looked at him with surprise.
"Rather, let them see every step."
After minutes... the carriage stopped before an old house.
A modest building surrounded by tall cypress trees.
Drian read the sign.
The Old Tax Records House.
His brow furrowed.
"Why here?"
Louai stepped out of the carriage.
And said quietly:
"Because everyone expects me to go to Eilis. And I do not like to go where my enemy expects me."
On the second floor... an elderly man over seventy received him.
He was the former Keeper of Imperial Records.
A man everyone had forgotten... but Louai had not.
The old man smiled.
"It has been a long time, Your Highness."
Louai answered:
"And a good memory does not age."
The old man laughed.
"Then what are you looking for?"
Louai placed a document before him.
"I want to know... who made this seal."
The old man lifted the document.
And began examining it with a small lens.
A minute passed... then two... then he said without raising his head:
"The seal is genuine."
Drian breathed with relief.
But the old man continued:
"And that is what worries me."
Louai looked at him.
"Explain."
The old man raised his eyes.
"The seal is genuine... but the paper is not worthy of being sealed."
Silence fell.
Louai said:
"Meaning?"
"This is an internal accounting form. It never leaves the port. So how did it reach your hands?"
Drian felt the blood freeze in his veins.
But Louai... his face did not change.
Instead, he asked another question.
"Could Kasian have taken it out?"
The old man smiled.
"That is not the right question."
"Then what is the right question?"
The old man returned the paper to him.
And said quietly:
"Who wanted you to see it?"
At that very moment... inside the palace... one of Kasian's intelligence men rushed in.
"My lord."
"We found him."
Kasian raised his head.
"Where?"
"The Old Records House."
Silence fell.
Then... Kasian smiled.
A genuine smile this time.
"Good."
The man looked at him with surprise.
"Don't you want to stop him?"
Kasian answered as he rose:
"If I wanted to stop him... I would not have let him leave the palace." He approached the window. "I want to know... who he will visit next."
And in the Empress's wing... the handmaiden entered.
"My lady..."
"The Prince did not go to Eilis."
Myra closed her book.
"I know."
"He went to the Keeper of Records."
Myra smiled a barely visible smile.
"Then... he has begun to think like an Emperor."
The handmaiden asked:
"Is that bad?"
Myra answered:
"Rather, dangerous."
In the Records House... the old man suddenly stood..
Then he walked toward an ancient wooden cabinet.
He took out a small, dust-covered box.
And placed it before Louai.
"Do you know what this is?"
He shook his head.
The old man opened the box.
Inside it... were old Imperial seals.
Some broken.
Some intact.
The old man said:
"Fifteen years ago... the Emperor discovered that some seals were being copied."
Louai looked at him intently.
"And what did he do?"
"He did not execute the forger." The old man paused for a moment. Then he said: "Rather, he appointed him in charge of seal-making."
Louai looked at him with surprise.
"Why?"
The old man smiled—the smile of a man who had lived a lifetime in palaces.
"Because the Emperor said then... 'The best way to know how your seal will be forged... is to have the forger working for you.'"
Silence fell.
Then the old man added as he closed the box:
"That is why... I trust no paper."
Louai looked at the documents in his hands.
And for the first time... he realized the battle was no longer a battle of proof.
But a battle of knowing... which evidence was made to be discovered, and which had cost its owners their lives to keep hidden.
He smiled faintly.
Then he said to Drian:
"Now only... do we have a real thread."
Dawn had not yet fully broken.
Louai's carriage cut through the capital's narrow alleys in silence, while the last of Kasian's surveillance points disappeared behind them.
Drian looked through the small mirror mounted inside the carriage.
He said in a low voice:
"The last of those following us has vanished."
Louai did not answer immediately.
He kept looking out the window for moments, then said:
"No."
Drian turned.
"What do you mean?"
Louai answered quietly:
"The last of those we wanted to see us has vanished."
Silence fell.
Then Drian smiled a small smile.
He understood.
The entire purpose of the journey... was to be seen.
Not to be hidden.
On the other side of the capital... the spy rushed into Kasian's wing.
He bowed and said:
"My lord... the Prince has left in a civilian carriage."
Kasian raised his head from the wooden board on which he was arranging chess pieces.
"And where to?"
"He headed toward the southern quarter."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
Kasian remained silent.
Then he moved one of the pieces.
A white piece fell from the board.
He said quietly:
"Send the third group."
The man hesitated.
"And not the first?"
"The first is being watched... and the second is expected." He picked up a black piece between his fingers. "But the third..." He placed it in the center of the board. "...he does not know it exists."
The man bowed and left immediately.
But as soon as the door closed... Kasian said to himself:
"If I am wrong... then I am the one walking into his plan."
At the same time... inside Empress Myra's wing.
The handmaiden entered quickly.
"Your Majesty."
Myra did not raise her head from the letters.
"Speak."
"The Prince has left."
"I know."
"But..." She hesitated. "...he did not go to the palace."
Myra's hand stopped writing.
Very slowly... she placed the quill on the table.
Then she asked:
"Did our eyes follow him?"
"Only halfway."
"And why did they stop?"
"Because his carriage entered the old alleys."
Silence fell.
Then Myra stood.
And walked toward the large map.
She placed her finger on the capital.
Then began moving through the alleys in a straight line... before stopping suddenly.
She smiled faintly.
"No..." She whispered. "...he did not go to Eilis."
The handmaiden looked at her with surprise.
"How did you know?"
Myra answered without turning:
"Because Eilis is the only place... that everyone knows he will go."
Then she added:
"And Louai... has finally stopped walking toward the places where his enemies wait for him."
In the carriage... Drian broke the silence.
"Then... where are we actually going?"
Louai looked at him.
Then he said:
"To the man no one knows exists."
Drian's brow furrowed.
"The man Corvin told us about?"
"Yes."
"The man who was watching Kasian."
Louai shook his head.
"If I can reach him... I will know why the vault was open. And why the files disappeared. And why someone wanted us to find the rest."
Drian sighed.
"And do you think he is still alive?"
Louai smiled.
"If he were dead... no one would bother hiding him."
Long minutes passed.
Then the carriage stopped before a small, modest house, located on a street almost empty of passersby.
No guards.
No servants.
No luxurious carriages.
Drian said:
"This?"
Louai answered:
"Sometimes... the most dangerous men live in the quietest places."
The two disembarked.
Louai stepped toward the door.
But he... did not knock.
Rather, he bent slightly.
And looked at the ground.
Drian said:
"What is there?"
Louai pointed to the dust before the door.
"There are no footprints."
Drian looked.
Then he said:
"That means no one has entered."
Louai shook his head.
"Rather, it means... someone cleaned the place."
Silence fell.
Louai raised his hand.
And touched the door handle.
It was warm.
Despite the cold of the morning.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
And he said in a faint voice:
"We are not the first to arrive."
At that moment... Drian lunged forward, drawing his sword.
He opened the door quickly.
The two entered.
But... there was no one there.
The house was tidy.
The table still held a cup of tea that had not yet dried.
The window was open.
And the curtains moved with the wind.
Louai approached the table slowly.
Then he noticed something small.
A paper.
Not a letter.
Not a document.
Just a single line, written in haste.
He picked it up.
And read it.
His expression changed.
Drian approached.
"What does it say?"
Louai remained silent for seconds.
Then he handed him the paper.
Drian read it aloud in a low voice:
"If you have reached here... you are only one step behind."
His eyebrows rose.
And before he could speak... Louai found on the reverse side of the paper a very small seal.
A seal... that bore neither Kasian's emblem. Nor the emblem of House Valtor. Nor even the Imperial seal.
He stared at it for a long time.
Then he whispered:
"Then... there is a third player."
And at that same moment... outside the house... a black carriage stopped at the end of the street.
No one stepped out.
But the window curtain moved slightly.
And someone... was watching the house in silence....