Because the imperial palace stood at its heart, the capital inevitably became a crossroads for everything the empire produced—gold, information, ambition, and rot.
In the Solhaven Empire, the central region was the most prosperous by far. Wealth and authority circulated endlessly, like blood pumping through a healthy body.
But no body was without disease.
And no capital, no matter how radiant, was free of shadows.
With the sole exception of the barren North, every region of the empire shared the same ugly truth—
Where light gathered, darkness pooled just beneath it.
"Not as bad as the West," I muttered, eyes sweeping across the streets ahead, "but this place isn't something you can afford to underestimate."
"…Isn't this the capital?" Emma Voss asked under her breath.
Her confusion was understandable.
From the outside, Solhaven's capital gleamed with marble spires and golden domes. Wide avenues, noble districts, orderly markets—those were the images carefully preserved for visiting dignitaries.
But the answer to her question lay right in front of us.
The streets here were narrow and warped, choked with refuse that had been kicked aside for so long it had become part of the road itself. The air was thick with the stench of rot, waste, and cheap alcohol. Broken crates were stacked haphazardly against leaning walls, and cracked stones bore stains that no amount of rain could wash away.
People lingered everywhere.
Or rather—people who no longer fit anywhere else.
Vagrants huddled around dying embers. Smugglers exchanged goods without even bothering to lower their voices. Outlaws leaned openly against walls, eyes sharp, measuring every passerby like prey.
No guards.
No banners.
No law.
The Dark District.
Emma pulled her robe tighter around herself, her expression hardening. Her eyes flicked from alley to alley, already cataloging exits, threats, and patterns.
Then she shot me a sharp glare.
"Don't tell me," she said flatly, "that you're planning to visit the thieves' guild."
"You're exactly right."
She clicked her tongue in irritation.
"…I knew it."
There was no surprise in her voice—only displeasure. Emma had always been sharp like that. She read intent the way others read letters, piecing together motive and outcome before most people even noticed something was wrong.
A proper investigator, through and through.
"This place shouldn't exist," she muttered. "The capital's shadow, swept under the rug because it's inconvenient."
She wasn't wrong.
The Dark District was a stain the empire pretended not to see. An embarrassment, socially and politically. Officially, it didn't exist. Unofficially, it was tolerated because erasing it would cost more blood than anyone wanted to spill.
"But from a player's perspective…" I said quietly.
Mostly to myself.
"…It's a necessary evil," I finished.
Assassination contracts. Theft commissions. Smuggling routes. Black markets trading in things that should never have existed in the first place.
Among all of it, though, one commodity outweighed everything else.
Information.
From gutter gossip bought with cheap coin and cheaper drinks, to secrets whispered only once before being buried as "myth" or "exaggeration"—the thieves' guild trafficked in all of it.
Most of it was worthless noise.
But every so often, buried beneath layers of lies and half-truths, there was something real.
Something sharp enough to cut kingdoms.
Something people would gladly kill for.
I'd learned that lesson a long time ago.
Emma clicked her tongue, clearly unimpressed.
"Relying on criminals instead of arresting them and maintaining order," she said coldly, "is a disgrace to nobility."
"You worry too much," I replied without slowing my pace.
That only made Amelia falter for a moment before covering her mouth. She tried—valiantly—to suppress it.
She failed.
A soft laugh slipped through her fingers. Polite. Refined. And somehow razor-edged.
"Nobles not using the thieves' guild?" Amelia said lightly. "That would be the real disgrace. Information wins wars far more reliably than soldiers. Every noble house uses them—openly or not. Please don't say such strange things, Lady Roberk."
Emma stiffened.
She didn't snap back.
Didn't argue.
Instead, she pulled her cloak tighter around herself, as if the air had suddenly turned colder. The hood dipped just enough to shadow her eyes.
The silence that followed was uncomfortable—thick, unresolved.
Our footsteps echoed against damp stone as we descended deeper into the district. The streets narrowed, lantern light dimming from warm gold to sickly amber. The smell changed too—iron, smoke, old wine, and something rotten beneath it all.
Then Emma spoke again.
Her voice was quieter this time. Controlled. Almost careful.
"…Do they have information," she asked, "about who killed my mother?"
I didn't stop walking.
Didn't turn around.
"Well," I said evenly, "they do."
The sound of footsteps ceased behind me.
Emma stopped dead.
For a brief moment, I felt it—the shift in the air. The way her breathing changed, just slightly. The restraint cracking at the edges.
Her eyebrows lifted. Just a fraction. Enough.
I kept moving.
"W–Wait," she said, quickly regaining her composure as she caught up. "You're saying that so easily. Are you certain?"
"As certain as one can be without paying," I replied. "Whether the information is complete, accurate, or intentionally poisoned is another matter."
Amelia glanced between us, her expression turning serious.
"That kind of information doesn't come cheap," she warned. "And it won't be clean."
"I don't care about clean," Emma said immediately.
Too immediately.
Her fists clenched at her sides, nails biting into her palms.
"I've lived with uncertainty long enough. Rumors, half-answers, silence… I'm tired of all of it."
I finally looked at her then.
Not with sympathy.
With assessment.
"Good," I said. "Because the truth you're looking for isn't gentle."
Emma met my gaze without flinching. Her eyes didn't waver—not even a fraction.
"I'm not asking for comfort."
Amelia let out a quiet breath, almost a sigh. "You really are alike," she murmured, more to herself than to either of us.
I ignored that comment and shifted my attention outward.
The dark district breathed differently from the rest of the city.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't chaotic.
It watched.
Even beneath our robes, the quality of our clothing gave us away. Fine stitching. Clean fabric. Too well-kept to belong here.
The moment we stepped into the narrow streets, I felt it—eyes sliding toward us from shadowed corners, from broken windows, from alleys that smelled of rot and damp stone.
Moist.
Calculating.
Desire pooled in their gazes, sticky and patient, waiting for a crack.
Walking here without a knight escort wasn't bravery.
It was an invitation.
And someone accepted it almost immediately.