My eyes were fixed on the Emperor as he held the scared young man against the wall.
He was waiting patiently for me to decide an appropriate punishment for picking out a dress in the wrong shade of red, and I realized for the first time how dangerous this man really was.
He didn’t care whether his victim lived or died; this was entertaining to him.
“Bringing the wrong dress is not deserving of punishment at all. I don’t think you would have said a word if I didn’t bring it up, and that is far worse - you would have let me wear the thing knowing how it would be perceived.”
“You’re telling me to let him go?”
His voice was unemotional and I thought that he might kill the boy despite what I had said.
I remained as passive a I could and stood slowly up to approach them.
“That is exactly
