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The atmosphere in the room was tense, to put it mildly. Although none of them would admit it, every one of them was holding all of the defensive spells they knew. All except one. The self-styled Emperor Draman was in the worst mood any of them had seen, and he was the sort who was hardly ever happy to begin with. “Why did none of you see this coming?” he thundered. “Why did none of your agents suggest Galland would invade us?” Everything on the table, a vase, a couple of ornaments and several paperweights all rattled in response to his anger.
Understandably, no one answered. As Draman’s oldest and most trusted advisor, it fell on Duke Nordin to speak before the mood got even worse. “Emperor, it appears that your adversary, the Count, must have predicted your moves and planned this res
