Lithaa, seeing the cracks in his stoic façade, spoke again—this time her voice was harder, more formal, as if delivering a verdict.
"Shurima is a matriarchy," she said.
"For thousands of years, the monarch has always been the eldest daughter. Tradition carved into bone and soul."
She took a step closer, the sorrow in her voice sharpening to a blade.
"By tradition, it should have been me. I was the firstborn.
But Akrona... was born a year later.
And she awakened the strongest Biocore ever recorded in our lineage—The Heart of Gaia."
The words hung heavy in the cooling air.
"At two, she could crush boulders in her tiny hands.
By ten, even my mother—the reigning Monarch—struggled to defeat her in a test of strength.""The people... they began to whisper.
Some saw in her the future of Shurima. A monarch unlike any before.
Ambition grew. Greed grew.
And then came the assassination attempt."
Lithaa's voice faltered for a heartbeat, old wounds reopening.
"My husband was killed."
