The old market courtyard lay almost deserted at midnight, its emptiness unsettling in a place that once pulsed with life. Cracked stone stretched across the square, worn smooth in places by decades of footsteps, now brittle under the bite of winter air. Faded red lanterns, long past their prime, dangled from rusting iron hooks and swayed against the cold wind, their glow uneven and sickly. The light they shed cast fractured shadows that crawled across the walls like restless spirits, elongating with every gust.Evelyn walked slowly into the open space, each measured step ringing sharp against the stone, her heels announcing her presence even as she wished for silence. She had told no one where she was going—not Alexander, not Noah, not even Hana. To have revealed the message would have been to invite interference, and this meeting, she sensed, was too precise and too dangerous for anyone else to risk. The isolation was both armor and liability.Near the center of the courtyard stood t
最終更新日 : 2025-08-25 続きを読む