The empress, Lucian, and Cedric were paraded down the winding, cobblestone streets, their hands bound in thick, rusted iron shackles that bit into their wrists. Their clothes tattered and soiled, stained with grime and the indignities hurled at them by the crowds. The air was thick with tension and the deafening roar of an enraged crowd. Every step of their march was an agonizing ordeal, filled with relentless hostility, as guards flanked them on all sides, struggling to keep the chaotic masses from overrunning them.