Chapter 193

CHAPTER 35… ANDRES By nightfall, silence had become impossible. But it wasn't any loud chaos, it's worse— whispers. They threaded through the palace like smoke through stone. Servants moved more carefully. Guards watched corridors they had never watched before. Even the air carried that faint, unsettled tension that came when too many people were thinking the same forbidden thought. The heir has changed the palace… I felt it every time I crossed a threshold. The wards no longer flared at my approach. They recognized me instantly— but not as their highest authority. As secondary… That realization settled into my chest like a slow, controlled burn. It was not jealousy, it's just the fear, fear for my son. Luciano slept between Valentina and me that night, curled against her side, one small fist clutched into the fabric of her nightgown. His breathing was steady. Peaceful. Completely unaware of the tectonic shift he represented. Valentina traced idle patterns over his back, her touch grou