[Emperor Cassius's POV—Everheart Estate, Grand Hall—Continuation]
The hall was still trembling when she walked out.
The scent of fear lingered heavier than the perfume—nobles frozen in their silks, breaths caught, as if one wrong movement might summon her wrath back through the doors. My daughter's wrath.
I stood there, unmoving. The Emperor of the Elorian Empire—yet for the first time in a long while, it wasn't my voice that held the hall hostage.
It was hers.
The echoes of Lavinia's command still clung to the marble, sharp and alive. Disown your daughter before midnight. I almost smiled.Almost.
Around me, courtiers exchanged frantic whispers, some pretending to look away, others trying to guess whether I was furious… or amused.
They didn't know me well enough.They never did.
My gaze followed her retreating figure until the doors shut behind her. Then I exhaled—slowly, deliberately—hands clasped behind my back.
