Versailles, FranceAutumn 1850
The smoke over Europe grew thicker every year.
Not from war.
From factories.
Railway stations across the continent no longer rested even at night. Steel mills burned endlessly beneath dark skies while locomotives crossed borders carrying coal, machinery, iron, timber, and industrial goods between nations transforming faster than governments could fully comprehend.
The old Europe of aristocrats and cavalry still existed.
But increasingly, it felt like a layer sitting on top of something newer.
Something louder.
Something mechanical.
And nowhere was that transformation more obvious than in Germany.
Inside the Palace of Versailles, the atmosphere had become tense again.
Not openly.
Not dramatically.
But enough that even servants moving through the halls noticed the difference.
