Palace of Thorns Read the full chapter

The ancient library at Oxford University was a haven of quietude, filled with the musty scent of aged parchment and the soft rustling of turning pages. Twenty - two - year - old Amelia Thompson, a passionate history major with a penchant for medieval studies, sat at a secluded corner table, her nose buried in a thick, leather - bound tome. The dim, warm glow of the overhead lamp cast a golden hue over her chestnut - brown hair and freckled cheeks as she meticulously studied the faded illustratio

In the bustling halls of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, twenty - three - year - old Isabella Rossini stood before Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, her eyes drinking in every detail of the masterpiece. As an art history graduate student specializing in the Italian Renaissance, she felt a deep connection to the paintings of that era. The delicate lines, the ethereal colors, and the stories they told had always fascinated her.

The morning sun filtered through the thin paper windows of Su Yao's humble cottage, casting a warm glow over the worn wooden floor. Su Yao sat at the rickety table, mending a hole in her father's tattered shirt with nimble fingers. The air was filled with the smell of steaming rice porridge simmering on the stove, and the distant chirping of birds provided a gentle backdrop to the peaceful scene.