THEODORE'S POV:
To wear the crown is to live with a target painted upon one's back. An emperor must exist in a state of perpetual vigilance, for betrayal is the shadows' only constant. In the history of the Vermilion Empire, the throne was never held by the kind or the merciful; it was held by those with the strength to crush dissent and the cunning to command a loyalty born of fear.
I have sacrificed everything to maintain this seat. My father’s life, my brothers’ ambitions, the health of my sons and daughters, and even the vitality of my own mother. Every drop of blood spilled was a stone added to the foundation of my rule. I have navigated the shifting tides of noble support, sect rivalries, and ancient ancestral arrays with the precision of a master weaver.
And now, standing before
