Location:Administrative Chamber, 2 hours later
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The administrative chamber was designed for efficiency, not comfort. Stone walls, tall windows that let in cold morning light, rows of benches for ministers and department heads. At the front, a raised platform with a single chair—simple, unadorned, positioned so whoever sat there could see everyone and be seen by everyone.
Iris sat in that chair wearing Elara's face.
The glamour was perfect. She'd spent nineteen minutes studying memory crystals of Elara's mannerisms, and one minute panicking that it wouldn't be enough. But now, draped in one of Elara's white suits with the golden butterfly pin catching lamplight, she looked exactly like the Fourth Princess.
She even sat the same way: spine straight, hands folded precisely in her lap, expression completely neutral. Not bored. Not interested. Just... present.
Like a very sophisticated statue that occasionally blinked.
