The Phantom and the Empress - Second Chapter

“Hey, is everything okay?” Marise heard someone ask behind her. “You’ve been so silent all morning, and I got a bit worried.”

Marise turned around and saw Jennifer von Sterling, one of her friends at the Royal Academy, looking at her with a troubled expression. It was no wonder that she was concerned. Marise had seen her own reflection in the mirror, and it had felt like staring at a corpse. Some of the unnatural paleness could be masked with make-up, and she had found colored contact lenses that she could use to hide her cloudy eyes in the supplies of the Royal Academy’s theater troupe. But despite all her efforts, it was still clear that something was wrong with her.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Marise answered. “It’s just... I’m concerned about my parents. They didn’t come home last night, and nobody has seen them.”

“I’m sure that everything is okay,” Jennifer said. She smiled gently and pointed towards the end of the icy blue banner that Marise was holding in her left hand. “Do you want some help with that?”

Marise nodded and climbed up a ladder. Once she had made it to the top, she grabbed a stapler that Jennifer handed to her and used it to secure the banner. They were preparing for the annual Winter Dance at the Royal Academy, and Marise had agreed to help out with the decorations.

She didn’t care about the Winter Dance, and she had no intention to show up when it actually happened. But she had to pretend like everything was okay until someone officially broke the news of her parents’ death to her. Judging by the fact that there had been no official announcement of their execution, Marise assumed that the emperor wanted to make it seem like an accident.

Marise grabbed the end of the next banner that Jennifer handed to her and attached it to the wall as well. The Golden Brigade was most likely already aware that something had gone terribly wrong with their plan to kill Marise. It would be hard for the capitaine to prove that Marise had actually died. No matter what, they would eventually start asking questions. Staying away from the preparations for the Winter Dance would have only made her seem even more suspicious.

“Hey, what do you think, is she finally going to ask him out?” Jennifer poked Marise with her elbow and pointed towards two other members of their circle of friends who were chatting on the other side of the hall.

One of them was Kari von Landvik. Until recently, Marise would have seen her as just another vain noble who only cared about money and appearances. But after a long, alcohol-fueled chat about how they disliked all the people at their academy, Marise had accepted her into her circle of friends. The other one was Torben von Solheim, a brawny but elegant man who had quit his career in the navy to pursue a degree in art.

“It’s not impossible,” Marise replied and tried to chuckle.

Calling all of these people her friends was admittedly an exaggeration. Eventually, all of them would become just like their relatives: shallow and greedy nobles who only cared about enriching themselves. It was not like Marise was any different, but being around the ones that she called her friends made her feel like she didn’t have to turn out like the rest. These few people were the only ones that she had found at the academy who had some moral consciousness. Marise also knew that they saw her as one of their friends, so they would be willing to cover for her if anyone started asking too many questions.

The door to the hall opened and she saw another member of their group, a man called Enzio di Rosa, walk through it. He methodically scanned the room before he found Marise and beelined straight for her.

“The director wants to speak to you,” Enzio said in his usual straightforward manner. “He said it’s urgent.”

“Am I in trouble? I swear, I haven’t missed a single lesson in months,” Marise said, but Enzio just shrugged.

Curious about what was going on, the others followed her to the directors office and promised to wait for her outside. For a moment, Marise just stood in front of the door and tried to steel herself for what was about to happen.

“You’ve got this!” Kari said and gave her a thumbs up.

“We’re here for you if you need us,” Torben said, and Jennifer nodded while Enzio remained silent, which wasn’t a sign of disapproval. Probably.

“Thank you,” Marise said and opened the door.

Inside the office, she saw the director talking to two men. One of them was just a regular police officer. The other one was a member of the Golden League, and he eyed her with a wary expression.

“Ah, milady, please sit down,” the director said and gestured towards an armchair next to one of the walls. Marise did as she was asked while the three men continued to whisper to each other, occasionally glancing back at her.

“What’s going on?” Marise asked.

The director opened his mouth, but he had no idea how to break the news to her, so in the end, he just looked away. Instead, the police officer pulled one of the chairs that were standing in front of the director’s desk up to her and sat down.

The police officer took a deep breath. “Milady, earlier this morning, we received a call from someone at the Celestial Gardens. Your esteemed parents were found in an alley close to that location. They were… attacked. And unfortunately, they did not survive. I’m… sorry that this is how you have to find out about it.”

Marise couldn’t tell whether her reaction was genuine or fake. Even though she had already known that her parents were dead, it was still painful to hear those words. She kept looking at the officer in what hopefully seemed like convincing shock before she averted her eyes and stared at the ground, murmuring something.

“What did you say?” the officer asked.

“May I…” Marise said once again, feeling her jaw trembling, “May I see them?”

“Of course,” the officer answered and stood up. “Please follow me.”

The director opened the door for them as they made their way out of the office. Marise glanced at the Golden League member for a second and saw that his expression had softened, which was a relief.

“What’s going on?” Kari asked when she saw Marise walk out of the room after the police officer.

“Something… something happened to my parents…” Marise stammered. “I…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jennifer said. She grabbed Marise with both arms and hugged her tightly. Even though Marise should have been crying, no tears streamed out of her eyes. And the hatred that had been raging in her heart was slowly being replaced with a quiet determination to bring the emperor to justice.

Marise stared at the black, star-studded cloth that the caretaker was pulling over her mother’s head. She had removed some of the make-up on her way to the chapel, and her deathly pale face was enough to convince everyone that she was in shock.

“Rigor mortis had already set in by the time we found them,” the coroner explained at her behest. “Judging by the distribution of blood and the body temperature, it seems like they had been lying on the ground for several hours before anyone found them.”

“How did nobody hear the gunshots?” Marise asked with a calm tone.

The coroner shook his head. “We don’t know. Our current explanation is that they were murdered somewhere else before the bodies were moved to a different location.”

Marise nodded and continued to stare at the cloth covering her parents’ bodies. She hoped that they would be able to experience the peace and tranquility that she had felt in that vision before her soul had returned to the world of the living. Then she sighed, thanked the coroner, and turned around to discuss some of the funeral details with the caretaker and the local oracle.

“Milady, there’s a group of reporters waiting outside,” Kai said when she made her way back to the exit, where he had been waiting for her. “Do you want to make a statement?”

“No,” Marise replied and reached for the top hat that her squire handed to her. “They can harass the police if they want any details.”

The first thing she saw when she left the chapel was the midday sun shining in between the clouds. She put on her top hat and walked to the Prisa-Sallan that Kai had parked on the side of the road. Before she could make it to the vehicle, she was blinded by several bright flashes as the reporters began taking pictures of her.

“Milady, is it true that your parents were murdered?” one of them asked.

“How are you feeling? Is there anything you want to tell us?” another shouted.

“Do you know any details about the cause of death?” a third one wanted to know. He was holding a microphone above the motor vehicle as she opened one of the doors in the back.

“Milady, does this have any relation to the Jeż Consulate Scandal?” was the last question she heard, to which she replied by loudly shutting the door.

Kai turned on the engine, and the reporters made some space for their vehicle. “Don’t you want to let them know that the Golden League did it?” he asked.

“No, I don’t have enough evidence,” Marise replied and leaned against the window. “And as long as everyone thinks that I don’t know anything, I’ll have room to make a move.

“Didn’t one of those Golden League freaks get away?” Kai asked and turned onto the road back home.

“Yes, but I doubt they’ll believe her,” Marise said. “Here I am, walking around completely unharmed and seemingly unaware of anything. Even at worst, it will confuse them for a while.”

Despite the death of her parents, for the first time in her life, Marise felt like she was in control of her situation. Until now, her family had been indebted to the emperor, or rather, his father, for letting them keep all their privileges and land titles after the disastrous reign of Marise’s great-grandfather. Because of that, they had spent the past couple of decades trying to stay on the emperor’s good side. Under different circumstances, maintaining that state of affairs would have been the best that Marise could have hoped for. But with this newfound power to possess other peoples’ bodies, she had no intention to stay passive.

“Take me to the Silver Chalice. Maybe we can squeeze some information out of the manager,” Marise said before she heard a ringing sound, indicating an incoming call on the telephone in her vehicle. She picked up the receiver and said, “Countess Marise von Eidenau. Who am I speaking to?”

“Milady, this is Vedran,” she heard the voice of her family butler coming from the other end of the line. “Her Royal Highness Princess Cyrile von Kapella wants to speak to you. Should I transfer the call to you?”

“Sure, I have time to talk,” Marise said. Of all of the emperor’s chlidren, Cyrile was the one that she hated the least. The princess had completely stayed out of politics, dedicating all of her time to her studies, which had earned her a doctorate at the young age of twenty. Her father had probably forced the Royal Academy to put her on the fast track, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the princess hadn’t earned her degree.

Marise heard several clicking noises as her butler connected her to Cyrile. “Hello? Marise, can you hear me?” the princess finally asked.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Marise replied. She heard rumbling noises through the receiver, which meant that the princess was also in a motor vehicle.

“I told you not to call me that,” the princess said. “Anyway, my father wants to speak to you. He said it’s something about formalities and your titles. Do you have time to meet him at the Palace Complex in the evening?”

“A meeting? Yes, of course!” Marise answered, politely ignoring the fact that Cyrile hadn’t said anything about her parents. She probably didn’t even know about that, and Marise couldn’t pass up on such an opportunity.

“Great, I’ll let him know that you’ll be there,” Cyrile replied. “I should be back by then as well if you want to catch up. We’ve triangulated the location of an s-particle anomaly, which is incredibly rare, so I’ll be busy all day.”

“Yeah, sure, you can tell me about that if you find anything. See you soon!” Marise replied and hung up. “Kai, forget about the Silver Chalice! Take me back home, I need to prepare for something.”

Cyrile pulled her scarf tighter when she stepped out of the motor vehicle. She looked around and saw roughly a dozen researchers and assistants setting up scanners and other devices on a snow-covered field about an hour away from Nesstrada.

“This is the place?” Cyrile asked the person who had been waiting for her on the side of the road. “It’s so… plain. Unusual.”

“Yes, if there are no errors in our calculations,” Erin answered. They were a graduate student with a hip-length blonde ponytail who worked directly with Cyrile on her personal pet project. There was a violet pin attached to their jacket, indicating that they were a member of the Royal Institute on Astral Physics. “But even if we made a mistake, the numbers were off the charts. It would be like trying to miss the sun while looking directly at the sky.”

Cyrile knew that she could have picked any high-profile scientist to assist her with her research into s-particles, but none of them were as genuinely passionate about the topic as Erin. They also respected her preference to be treated like a regular civilian, and in turn, Cyrile was one of the few people who respected the fact that Erin was neither a man nor a woman. Well, she would have done that anyway. Conventions and traditions weren’t something that mattered to her.

“Do we have any results yet?” Cyrile asked as she walked towards several calculator machines that had been set up on crates next to an open motor caravan. Some of the researchers bowed before her when she walked past them, which she registered with an annoyed eye roll.

“We’re about to start our first run of tests,” Erin said. They had arrived at the improvised research station and gestured towards one of the screens. “You should be able to see the results soon.”

“Did you notice anything when you got here?” Cyrile asked. She put down her briefcase and took out several measuring tools, a clipboard, and a carefully sealed, violet shard made up of crystallized s-particles.

“There were footsteps and something that looked like blood, but we haven’t done any tests yet. I’ve prepared a sample for you.” Erin pointed towards a small plastic bag. “Maybe a hunter shot a deer and somehow triggered the anomaly in the process.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. There’s an unusually high concentration of s-particles in morgues. Death seems to work like a magnet on them,” Cyrile said as she held up the bag of blood-stained snow to see if she could spot anything with the naked eye.

“Your Highness,” one of the assistants walked up to her and pointed towards the nearby forest. “I’m sorry to interrupt your discussion, but it seems like we’re being watched.”

“Really?” Cyrile asked and picked up a set of binoculars that the assistant handed to her. “You’re right!”

Somewhere between the trees, a uniformed woman with long, brown hair was staring at what was happening on the field. Cyrile rarely got involved in imperial politics, but even she could tell that this was a member of the Golden League, a strange group of thugs and ex-soldiers that her father had hired to harass people who did not like the war that he was waging in Ratisbon.

“Should we do anything about that?” Erin asked and squinted their eyes while looking in the same direction.

“Let’s invite her to join us,” Cyrile said and gave the binoculars back to the assistant. “We have nothing to hide. This is just simple research.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the assistant mumbled and walked off.

A couple of minutes later, the uniformed woman approached Cyrile, who was busy setting up her work station next to one of the calculator machines. The woman bowed when Cyrile turned around and said, “Your Highness, my name is Capitaine Mazzo. I am terribly sorry for spying on you. It was not my intention to disrupt your research.”

“You haven’t caused any problems, don’t worry,” Cyrile said. “But I’m curious, what is the Golden League doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“There were reports of suspicious activity in the area,” Capitaine Mazzo said and looked towards the middle of the field, where the other researchers had finished setting up the scanners. “Apparently, someone disguised as one of our members was spotted interrogating people in the area. I saw your motor vehicles and assumed it might be connected.”

“Well, I have to disappoint you,” Cyrile said. “I doubt this has anything to do with your incident. We’re just here to investigate a rare natural anomaly. Say, do you know anything about s-particles?”

“I’m not familiar with the topic,” Capitaine Mazzo replied.

“They’re also called stellar particles. It’s one of the fundamental building blocks of the universe,” Cyrile said and picked up the sealed shard. “For the longest time, few people cared about researching them because it’s almost impossible to perceive or measure them. However, last year, our institute made a breakthrough.” She gestured towards the object in her hand. “They usually can’t be seen with the bare eye, but we managed to find shards of pure, crystallized s-particles in the aftermath of something that we call an anomaly. Last night, our scanners detected one of those, and as far as we can tell, it happened right here. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find more material for our research today.”

“I’m… happy to hear that, Your Highness,” Capitaine Mazzo said and once again glanced at the scanners on the field.

“You don’t have to feign interest, I have more than enough sycophants at home who can do that instead,” Cyrile said and turned around. “Is everyone ready?”

Once she had confirmed that the preparations had been completed, Cyrile nodded towards Erin, who flipped a switch to start the test. Almost immediately, the graphs on their calculator machines jumped up to unusually high levels.

“Four hundred KU, that’s impressive!” Erin said and nodded admirably.

Cyrile eagerly watched the numbers climbing on the screen in front of her. They soon reached the highest value that their institute had ever recorded, surpassed it, and jumped once again to astronomical heights. Even in her wildest dreams, Cyrile couldn’t have expected something like that.

The news spread like wildfire, and soon, the other researchers were chatting enthusiastically while unpacking specialized detectors, shovels and pickaxes to find and collect any shards that might have appeared in the snow or in the frozen ground below them.

“Are you sure our equipment isn’t just malfunctioning?” Cyrile asked Erin, who just shook their head.

“I made sure to check all the scanners before we departed. Everything is in tip-top condition.” They looked at the screen and shook their head once again when they saw the value at which their graphs had finally stabilized. “Three thousand KU… unbelievable. I can’t wait to read the reactions of the folks in the uh…” They glanced at the capitaine. “...the folks across the border when they find out about this.”

“Capitaine, have you heard about anything that might have caused this?” Cyrile asked the member of the Golden League.

“I have no idea, Your Highness,” Capitaine Mazzo said and shrugged. “But I’ll ask around and see if anyone was spotted here last night.”

“Thank you,” Cyrile said and turned around to look at the incomprehensible value on the screen in front of her. Whatever had happened here last night, she had to find a way to replicate it.

Nervously adjusting her top hat, Marise followed one of the royal guards down the elegant hallway that led to the emperor’s personal study in the heart of the Palace Complex. Everything was happening much quicker than she had expected. But she had a plan, and she knew that it would succeed.

The door to the emperor’s study was flanked by two giant banners, displaying a white, two-headed eagle bordered by six golden stars on a black ground. Several guards were keeping watch nearby, so if she wanted to kill the emperor, she had to do it silently. Luckily for her, she knew exactly how she would do that.

Marise knocked on the door and waited for a response. A couple of seconds later, she heard a click, indicating that the door had been unlocked. She entered the room and bowed deeply when she saw the emperor sitting behind his desk, taking off her top hat in the process.

“Your Majesty,” Marise said as the door closed behind her. “You wanted to speak to me?”

“There’s no need for formalities today,” Maurice von Kapella said. The emperor was an elderly man with a neatly-trimmed gray beard and a tired look on his face. He was wearing an ornate, maroon surcoat and sitting on a golden chair behind a desk covered with letters.

“I understand,” Marise said and took a step forward.

“Little bird, I am deeply sorry about what happened to your parents,” the emperor said and gestured towards a chair in front of him. “They were good, loyal people, and I cannot imagine what you’re going through right now.”

Marise pulled herself together and sat down on the chair. Doubts started to creep up on her now that she was in the same room as the emperor. What if he hadn’t actually ordered her parents’ execution? She had to make sure that he had actually done that before she went through with her plan. “Do you have any idea why they were murdered?”

The emperor sighed. “I do not know. Maybe it’s related to the Jeż Consulate Scandal. There are many people who blame your father for that. Perhaps he got involved with the wrong people. Or maybe the traitors in the west sent assassins after your mother. Back when we started another round of negotiations with them, she didn’t leave a good impression on them due to her patriotic values.” He stood up and propped himself up on his desk with both hands. “Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to find the people responsible for this.”

“Thank you,” Marise said and tried to smile.

“Now, we need to talk about you,” the emperor said and stood up. “You are the last member of your family, which means that from this day onward, you will be know as both the Countess of Yvelin and the Duchess of Praskovya. When the time comes to finally reintegrate the territories west of the Venne River, we will return all of your family’s land to you. I promise that.” He turned around and walked up to the window. “I know that this is a difficult time for you, so we can skip the usual ceremony if you need time to mourn.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Marise said. Spotting an opportunity, she stepped out of her body and floated towards the emperor, who had turned his back on her. Reacting to the presence of Marise’s spirit outside of her body, the electric lights in the room started to flicker. The emperor noticed that something was going on, but before he could turn around, Marise had already dived head-first into his body.

For a moment, she was once again overwhelmed by someone else’s memories. She felt the terror of a child who was staring at a group of paramedics desperately trying to stabilize his father after a failed assassination attempt. Then she felt the mind-numbing boredom of a man dealing with the endless demands of nobles and royals who were trying to get a larger piece of the empire than everyone else. The boredom turned into resignation as he gave in to their demands, only to watch with horror as thousands upon thousands of people died in a senseless war that had turned into a stalemate a long time ago. He wanted to end this bloodshed at all costs, but he knew that it would enrage the nobles even more. A voice whispered something in his ear, pointing at various people and providing simple solutions to his complicated problems. He did not want to listen to this voice, but the more time passed, the more tempting its offers became.

Finally, Marise’s soul gained the upper hand, and the strange memories dissipated. This body felt much different from the one that she had possessed last night. When she tried to take a step, she almost stumbled, not used to how tall she was. Marise could feel her back aching, and she was so tired that she could fall asleep at any moment if she didn’t pull herself together.

Meanwhile, her actual body was still sitting on the chair in front of the desk, staring into space as if it was in trance. It wouldn’t take long until someone else showed up to talk to the emperor, so Marise began working her way through the various letters and documents on the desk as well as all the folders on the shelves around her, trying to find anything that could confirm the emperor’s involvement in her parents’ death. After a while, she discovered bits and pieces of a recent, cryptic conversation between the emperor and the leader of the Golden League, a man known as Cheffe Genkov. She couldn’t understand much, but when she read the words, “Target only the hawks, leave the little bird alone. We need to save face,” she finally had the confirmation that she had been looking for.

Marise sat down on the emperor’s comfortable chair and continued to read the letters. It was difficult to piece together why exactly he had given the order to execute her parents. Eventually, she found some letters that contained observation records. Apparently, the Golden League had been spying on Marise and her parents for quite a while, and they had seen both of her parents meeting up with members of the pospolist underground on multiple occasions.

So that’s why the emperor had targeted her parents. Marise leaned back in the chair and exhaled deeply. Whatever conspiracy her parents were involved in had the goal of bringing back the old commonwealth. Back then, Marise’s great-grandfather had ruled as a citizen emperor, a figurehead, over a nation where the power of the nobility had been a thing of the past.

It didn’t last long. Marise was no pospolist. She knew how the story of the Nivolari Commonwealth had ended. Terror and corruption were a regular aspect of everyday life, until eventually, her great-grandfather had been assassinated and the nation erupted in a civil war. Parts of the Commonwealth still remained on the other side of the Venne River, adopting a much more radical ideology, but as far as she was aware, it was nothing more than a dictatorship with a white paint coat.

She turned her head and looked at the windows behind her, through which she could see the ornate, snow-covered roofs of Nesstrada in the evening glow. The empire was her home, but she had to admit that life wasn’t much better here, at least for the common people. All the wealth was hoarded by elites like her, and groups like the Golden League terrorized anyone who dared to speak up. The current emperor was a weak man, she could feel it in the bones of the body that she had possessed. He easily gave into the demands of the nobility, plunged the nation into senseless wars, and killed anyone who wanted to change things. If anything, she would do the entire nation a favor if she got rid of him.

Certain that she was doing the right thing, Marise grabbed an empty sheet of paper and a pen to write a confession in the emperor’s name. Slowly, she stood up and walked towards the window. It would be a quick and simple death. Once his guards stormed the room, they would find the suicide letter in which the emperor admitted his guilt and the involvement of the Golden League. One thing would lead to another, and the imperial authorities would do all the work to avenge Marise’s parents. It was a foolproof plan.

Marise had already put her hand on the windowsill when she heard a knock. Without waiting for an answer, Cyrile opened the door and walked into the room while staring at a clipboard in her hand. She stopped walking when she noticed that Marise, or rather her body, was still sitting on the chair.

“Oh, am I too early?” Cyrile asked.

“Uh, give us a couple more minutes, darling, we still have lots to discuss,” Marise said and asked Cyrile to leave with a gesture. The princess looked at her with a confused expression but did as she was asked.

When Cyrile had finally left the emperor’s study, Marise sighed. That was a close call. If the princess had entered the room mere seconds later, she would have seen Marise’s soul leaving her father’s body as he fell out of the window.

Unsure if her plan was actually as foolproof as she had thought, Marise stepped back from the window. This was not the first time she had been so careless. Why had she insisted on meeting Kai in a well-attended inn instead of somewhere less crowded? Nevermind that, why had she shown him her new form in the first place?

Even if everything ended up happening exactly as she had predicted it, there was a chance that the authorities and the imperial family would just ignore the letter and suspect her. She had tried to imitate the emperor’s handwriting, but that wouldn’t fool the police for long. Eventually, they would investigate her, and nobody would believe that this was a simple suicide.

She looked around the room and tried to think of a new plan, when she spotted a large portrait of the imperial family hanging between two bookshelves. Come to think of it, she didn’t have any reason to believe that whoever replaced the emperor would do a better job. His eldest daughter Klara was a war criminal who had committed horrible atrocities trying to bring order to some of the empire’s colonies. The next in line, Laurentin von Kapella was known for his gambling addiction, and he would ruin the empire’s finances before anyone knew what had happened. Cyrile was a decent woman, but it was unlikely that she would end up becoming the empress. And even then, Marise had no clue whether she would end up caring about her job at all. Her research always seemed to take precedence.

Was there even a need for a new emperor? Once again, Marise looked out of the window at the roofs of the city. Then she noticed a globe standing on a shelf next to her. If you believed the official facts, then more than a third of the planet belonged to the empire. Reality was of course very different, since a significant portion had broken away during the civil war. But even then, there were still so many oppressed peoples, subjugated nations, and unwilling client states working to maintain a society that did not even care about the common people of its own heartland.

Marise was certain that she had to kill the emperor to avenge her parents. But that would not be enough. She was still thinking far too narrowly. It didn’t matter who was in charge of the empire. Nothing would change if she killed the emperor and put one of his children in charge. She had to do something far more ambitious. She had to destroy the entire Empire of Nivolar. Rip it out root and stem so that nothing remained. From the smallest island on the Second Hemisphere to the most integrated client kingdoms, all nations that were under the empire’s boot had to be freed. Only then would her parents be avenged. It’s what they would have wanted.

She knew that she was running out of time, so Marise grabbed the letter that she had written and added several names, addresses, and dates that she had seen in the emperor’s documents. A new plan began to take shape in her head. It would be far more complicated than throwing the emperor out of a window, but if she succeeded, she could free millions of people and change the entire world for the better.

Marise folded the piece of paper up and stuffed it into one of her actual body’s pockets. Satisfied, she walked around the desk, sat down on the emperor’s chair, and closed the eyes of his body as she pulled her soul out of it.

“Your Majesty?” Marise asked once her soul was back where it belonged.

“W...what?” the emperor replied, holding onto his head with a dazed expression on his face. “I… What happened?”

“I… don’t know. I think you fell asleep,” Marise said and tried to look worried.

“Ah, I’m sorry, little bird,” he muttered and shook his head. “The past couple of days have been stressful.” He sighed and stood up. Marise did the same and bowed deeply. “Old age has not been kind to me. But I promise, I’ll do everything I can to bring the one who killed your parents to justice.”

“Thank you,” Marise said and turned around to leave the emperor’s study. She put on her top hat with a swift motion and grinned. “I’m sure you will.”