The dark iron domain before dawn was as heavy as iron.
Only the footsteps of patrol knights remained on the city walls, as the cold penetrated through the gaps in their armor into their bones.
Count Doron, clad in a thick cloak, stood behind the wall, overlooking the plains swallowed by the night.
He did not expect anything to happen tonight; even though the Empire had been turbulent recently, he treated the nightly patrols more like a routine, even a pleasure.
Especially when the subjects instinctively lowered their heads upon seeing him; those fearful eyes gave him a certain sense of satisfaction.
Because of the recent imperial dispute over the throne, Lord Raymond ordered vigilance across the entire territory, but in Doron's eyes, the faraway Gray Rock Province was practically unaffected.
He commanded five thousand knights, and if any dared to come, he believed they would die on this dark land.
However, the real danger never arrived as he had imagined.
