Imperial House Secretariat - Meeting Chamber
According to the Imperial Constitution, Chapter II, Article 14 — Dishonored Government Officers.
According to the Imperial House Code of Conduct, Page 5 — "The Behaviour."
The Secretariat's officer voice echoed inside the grand, cold hallway.
Every word, every article, every line of protocol — read not as law, but as punishment.
Inside the chamber, a girl barely seven stood in silence.
Her name:
Selene von Aetherwald.
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"Selene! Selene, open the door!"
Evandra's voice cracked as she pounded on the tall wooden frame.
"Let me in!"
The officer near the door didn't move.
"Protocol, Your Highness," he said coolly. "This is a private correctional session authorized by the Imperial House Secretariat."
"She's seven!" Evandra screamed.
The door creaked open anyway — not by mercy, but by completion.
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Inside, Selene sat on a chair that was too tall for her. Her feet didn't touch the floor.
She didn't cry.
Didn't shake.
She only stared blankly ahead.
Evandra ran to her, holding her arms.
But Selene didn't flinch.
She didn't even look at her until spoken to.
And when she did, her voice wasn't grateful.
It was clinical.
"According to the Princes and Princesses Code of Conduct, Article 45:"
"'Before a child reaches their 16th year, they should enhance their capabilities in language, leadership, etiquette, and memory.'"
Selene turned her head, slowly.
"Are you finished with your speech practice, Sister?"
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Evandra broke.
She dropped to her knees.
Arms wrapped around Selene, sobbing into her dress.
"This is enough..."
"ENOUGH!"
She shouted at the officers.
At the Secretariat.
At the system that called their mother a spy.
But her voice — though loud — changed nothing.
She was too young.
Too kind.
Too helpless.
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Because it had already been three years since Tatiana Romanov Aetherwald — The People's Queen — was lowered into the ground.
And in the years after her death, the same system that had applauded her humanitarian work quietly rewrote her legacy.
The Imperial Court.
The Government Officers.
The Aetherland Army.
They whispered:
"Spy for Great Russ."
"Agent planted within the Red Cross."
"A Romanov, too ambitious."
"She charmed Valerian, and when her usefulness ended... so did she."
Words like:
"Assassination."
"Potion."
"Political dismissal."
Selene heard them.
She didn't understand all of it.
But she never forgot.
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