She summoned the elite inner circle of the Vanguard guards. Her orders were absolute, delivered in a voice made of freezing iron: No one is allowed to enter my chambers. No one means no one. If the Emperor himself comes knocking, you break his legs.
Then came the most dangerous, unpredictable variable: Samuel.
Samuel had effectively taken over the Marquisate estate, ruling the servants and the logistics with a brilliant, possessive ruthlessness. He was currently tearing the country apart from his study, sending his own private guards out to hunt for divine physicians, hoarding foreign medicines, and trying to pull a miracle out of the void. But Samuel's power within the estate was a borrowed illusion. He only possessed that authority because the Vanguard Madam allowed him to hold the leash.
Heena commanded him to travel immediately to a neighboring province, under the strict guise of intercepting a critical intelligence ledger regarding the Prime Minister's hidden wealth.
