Morning arrived, but Valenridge did not wake up. Because most of the country had never gone to sleep. Television screens still glowed inside homes. Radios remained on. Phones constantly refreshed election updates. The vote count continued.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
And with every passing hour, the picture became clearer. Sebastian Ravenscroft was leading.
By sunrise, several major provinces had completed their counts. The numbers appeared on giant screens inside the National Election Commission headquarters while journalists crowded around every update.
One district.
Then another.
Then another.
The trend refused to change. Sebastian remained ahead.
Inside campaign headquarters, nobody wanted to celebrate yet.
Not after everything they had survived.
Not after months of attacks, sabotage, scandals, and violence.
Chairman Elias had spent most of the night warning everyone not to get carried away.
"It's too early."
