The room had reached a deadlock.
Kenji was inside Pluvia Camelot's bedchamber, and standing between him and Sonya was Lina, sword in hand, forming a human barrier.
At the door, Empress Dowager and Pluvia herself stood side by side.
"Your Majesty, if my master had any grievances, couldn't we have worked them out directly? What are your intentions in bringing him here like this?"
Lina had no time for courtly decorum—she raised her blade, her anger obvious.
She was livid.
She'd always believed Kenji was relatively safe inside the palace, especially since even Pluvia, who sometimes butted heads with him, wouldn't dare make a move at present. It never occurred to her that, even within the secure confines of the court, someone would dare act against her master.
Technically, Lina was now an imperial official—or nearly one—but first and foremost, she was Kenji's bodyguard. In a moment like this, her loyalty was clear.
