Mirabelle stood in the center of one of the largest halls on the ground floor of Luchsenstein Castle.
Behind her stretched a seemingly endless carpet in a deep, warm shade of gold, running through the entire length of the hall before ending at the raised platform on which she now stood.
On either side of it rose tall stone columns.
And between those columns...
Beastmen and Beastwomen.
So many of them.
They lined both sides of the hall and crowded into the spaces farther back, filling nearly every available spot without ever stepping onto the golden carpet itself.
Their quiet conversations blended into a constant murmur that filled the enormous space. Mirabelle could distinguish the occasional laugh, the deeper rumble of a male voice, the excited whisper of a female, the shuffle of shoes against stone.
She could feel all of it behind her. Because Mirabelle herself stood with her back to the hall. Her attention was fixed on the woman before her.
Her mother.
