The Imperial Palace was a fortress of gold and cold judgment. Rain lashed against the stained-glass windows, creating a distorted prism of colors that danced across the marble floors. I walked through the Hall of Mirrors, my black velvet gown trailing behind me like a funeral shroud for my past self.
On my right stood Leo. We had spent the last four hours cleaning him up, dressing him in the Stuart family's midnight-blue crest. He looked terrified, but there was a flicker of iron in his eyes—the Stuart fire I had fanned into life.
"Don't look at the ground, Leo," I whispered, my hand resting on his shoulder. "Look at the people who think you're a pawn. Make them regret they ever heard your name."
The heavy gilded doors opened.
The Empress sat upon the Chrysanthemum Throne, her face a mask of ageless power. To her left stood Julian Cross. He had regained some of his composure, his white suit pristine, but his eyes were dark with a desperate, feverish light. Beside him stood my uncle Victor, looking like a man awaiting his execution.
"Sophia Stuart," the Empress spoke, her voice echoing like a silver bell in the cavernous hall. "Julian Cross has petitioned for the activation of the Bloodline Decree. He claims you are withholding a legitimate male heir and mismanaging the Stuart Conglomerate. What say you?"
Julian stepped forward before I could speak, his voice filled with a practiced, oily sincerity. "Your Majesty, I do this out of love for the Stuart legacy. Sophia is... unwell. She has been erratic, even violent. The family needs its rightful head to ensure stability in the North."
He turned to me, a predatory smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Sophia, if you have the boy, produce him. Or step down and let the Council appoint a regent."
I didn't blink. I simply stepped aside, revealing Leo.
The silence that followed was absolute. Julian's smirk froze. He looked at Leo, then at me, his brain clearly struggling to process how I had found the boy in the Grey District before his elite extraction team.
"This is Leo Stuart," I said, my voice projecting with a clarity that silenced the whispers of the courtiers. "The son of my late father. And far from being 'withheld,' he has been under my protection since I discovered the squalor Julian Cross's associates had left him in."
"That's a lie!" Julian shouted, losing his calm. "Your Majesty, she kidnapped him! She—"
"Enough!" The Empress raised a hand. She looked at Leo. "Young man, come forward."
Leo walked toward the throne, his steps surprisingly steady. He looked at the Empress, then slowly turned his gaze toward Julian.
"Is this the man who said you were a prince, Leo?" I asked, my voice cold.
Leo shook his head. "No. This is the man whose servants told me if I didn't come with them, they'd burn down my foster mother's house. He didn't want a prince. He wanted a prisoner."
A gasp rippled through the hall. Julian's face went from pale to a splotchy, angry red.
[Ding! Major Plunder Opportunity! Julian Cross's 'Saintly Reputation' is crumbling.]
[Luck Leakage: +500... +800... +1000!]
[Host's Luck Value: 2,630.]
"Your Majesty, the boy is being coached!" Victor stammered, trying to save himself. "Sophia has poisoned his mind!"
"Actually," a deep, resonant voice sounded from the back of the hall. "I found the boy's testimony quite... authentic."
Klaus stepped out from behind a pillar, his violet eyes glowing with a dangerous amusement. He didn't bow; he simply nodded to the Empress. The entire room seemed to shrink in his presence.
"Archduke Klaus," the Empress murmured, her eyes narrowing. "I didn't know you took an interest in family squabbles."
"I take an interest in my business partners, Your Majesty," Klaus replied, walking over to stand directly behind me. The heat from his body was a physical shield. "And as the primary investor in the Stuart North Project, I find Julian Cross's methods... distasteful. The Bloodline Decree states the heir must be 'willing and fit.' Does Leo Stuart look willing to serve under Mr. Cross?"
Leo looked at Julian with pure, unadulterated hatred. "I'd rather go back to the slums."
The Empress leaned back, her gaze lingering on the black diamond ring on my finger. She was a politician; she knew when the wind had shifted.
"The petition is denied," the Empress declared. "Sophia Stuart remains the sole Head of the Stuart Conglomerate and legal guardian of Leo Stuart. Furthermore, an investigation into the Cross Group's 'recruitment' methods will begin immediately."
Julian looked like he had been struck. He reached out to grab my arm as I turned to leave, his face twisted in a mask of madness. "Sophia, you can't do this! You're mine! Everything I did, I did for—"
I didn't even have to move. Klaus's hand clamped onto Julian's wrist with the sound of snapping bone. Julian let out a strangled scream, falling to his knees.
"Don't touch what belongs to the North," Klaus whispered, his voice so low only we could hear.
I looked down at Julian, the man I had once died for. He looked pathetic. A king with no crown, kneeling in the dirt of his own ambition.
[Ding! Large High Point Reached! 'The Fall of the Golden Card'.]
[Luck Value: +1,500! Life Force: +60 Days.]
[System Notice: Julian Cross has been downgraded from 'Protagonist' to 'Major Antagonist'.]
"We're just getting started, Julian," I said, stepping over him. "I hope you enjoy the investigation. It's the only spotlight you'll have left."
As we walked out into the rain, the system hummed a victory march in my ear. I looked at Klaus, who was watching me with a look that wasn't just amusement anymore. It was hunger.
"You've won the battle, Sophia," he said, opening the carriage door for me. "But Julian is a cornered rat now. And rats are never more dangerous than when they're starving."
"Then let him starve," I said, stepping into the dark. "I'll be the one holding the grain."