Chapter 177 Visitation

• Two days later
• I hadn’t seen a soul beyond Avaline in what felt like a small eternity. The palace corridors had become quieter, stripped of the clinking laughter of my friends or the hushed gossip that used to leak from every corner. My world had narrowed to a single place, Avaline’s private training hall, and to the relentless woman herself.
• Her lessons were… brutal. Not in the way of whips or punishments, but in the sheer mental discipline she demanded. From the moment I woke, before the sun even brushed the palace spires with light, she would be there, already immaculate, a faint jasmine scent trailing her, and eyes sharp enough to slice through my excuses before they ever reached my tongue.