From the hidden papers of Leandros Hieron, Scholar of the Ancient Library. For the eyes of himself and if fate should someday have it, the eyes of the True Princess Elara.
First Year of No Kings
Year of Accord 3785
Behold the lamentations of my heart. I have read the sealed report twice now. Once as a scribe, once as a son of Alendria. It states plainly that King Theodor and his kin were taken to Konigsheim, the heart of the empire, and made to kneel before the emperor. There, they renounced crown and country. The words were recorded, the ceremony witnessed, the seal affixed. And then, as if the ritual were not humiliation enough, they were executed.
The magistrate called it closure. I call it cruelty.
There is no mention of Princess Elara.
The report lists "relatives"—a term so broad it could mean cousins, uncles, even distant wards. But the name of his sole heir is absent. Not redacted. Not crossed out. Simply not there. And that absence echoes louder than any decree.
I wonder if she was spared. Hidden. Forgotten. Or if her fate was deemed too delicate to record.
In the quiet hours, when the ink dries and the torches dim, I allow myself to grieve. Not just for the Landons, but for the way their end was written. As if they were a footnote. As if the bloodline of Alendria could be erased with a single page.
But history is not so obedient.
I hope for the Princess.