Look at my so-called mother's reputation, Heena continued, her tone dripping with dark, cynical reality. The Lu Matriarch is a bloodthirsty, corrupt aristocrat. Do you have any idea how much money, blood, and dignity that woman has squeezed out of the working class in this capital over the decades? If I had strutted out into that courtyard today expecting these commoners to joyfully serve me based on my family's legacy... they wouldn't have cooked me a wedding feast. They would have tied me to a spit and burned me alive.
The System fell completely silent. Put that way, Heena's expensive paranoia was entirely, flawlessly justified.
Heena let out a heavy sigh and forced her aching legs to stand up. She didn't have time to argue with a machine, and she certainly didn't have time to rest.
Outside her window, the sky was rapidly bruising into a deep twilight purple, and the distant, rhythmic thumping of the aunties testing their ceremonial drums echoed down the alleyway.
