Chapter 61

"Are you sure that's wise, Your Majesty? If my true nature comes out, the truth about the late Emperor's death comes out right along with it."

Never speaking of the late Emperor's death — that had become something like an unspoken rule between Christine and Jan.

"Everyone simply believes he died in a wolf attack. Though I do wonder what kind of reaction we'd see if it ever came out that it was really his younger brother's own scheme to seize the throne. Isabel, especially — or Duke Rodwell..."

Isabel had been the late Emperor's wife, and Duke Rodwell was her father.

People who, had the late Emperor lived, would have gone on holding the highest power in the land.

Christine's threat put Jan on edge, but he didn't let it show. He wasn't the kind of man easily shaken.

"It was you who harmed my brother, not I. Besides…