She had already surrendered the Vanguard family's absolute military authority—the exact same power her grandfather had bled on the battlefield to build. She didn't hand it over to the Minister of the Right or the civil courts. She submitted a formal, written vow directly to the Emperor himself, willingly giving up her family's right to command the army.
Heena understood the one golden rule of monarchy that the rest of the arrogant nobles seemed to forget: a ruler will never, under any circumstances, tolerate a subject who holds more power than the throne. The five Imperial Death Pardons she held were just a small, temporary resistance against an Emperor who would inevitably try to slaughter her entire family.
But the Emperor was a cunning, terrifying bastard.
When he received her written surrender, he didn't accept it. Instead, he put on a spectacular, hypocritical show for the entire capital.
