Chapter 155 - Know when to stop

The preparations at Raaya Villa took on a sharper edge in the days that followed. What had begun as cautious readiness hardened into something more deliberate. Dragon Maidens rotated through extended patrols along the northern ridges, their dragons carrying them high above the mist-shrouded passes where Jiunsu activity continued to grow. Supply lines were reinforced, hidden caches established in the foothills, and messengers rode south to the few houses that had offered quiet support. The villa itself felt different—quieter in some ways, more alive in others. Every servant, every guard, every woman who had chosen to stand within its walls moved with the focused awareness of people who knew trouble was coming and had decided they would not meet it unprepared.