Chapter 41 --41
"Father. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."
He didn’t look up from the document he was reviewing. "I’m told assassins breached your chambers last night. Three professionals, vanished without a trace." His tone was conversational, like he was discussing the weather. "How unfortunate."
"Yes. Very unfortunate." Elara remained standing, hands clasped in front of her. "Which is part of why I requested this audience."
"Oh?" Now he looked up, eyes sharp and assessing. "Elaborate."
"I wish to leave the palace. Not permanently—not yet—but for an extended period. Three to six months initially." She kept her voice level, professional. "I need to oversee the implementation of the preservation magic with the merchant guilds. The contracts are finalized, but the technology requires field supervision, particularly during the initial rollout phase."
The Emperor leaned back in his chair, studying her. "You want to leave the capital entirely."
"Yes. Port Crestfall would be ideal—it’s the central hub for the major shipping operations, and Guild Master Verin’s main warehouses are there. I could work directly with their logistics teams, refine the anchor production process, train their people on proper usage."
"And this has nothing to do with someone trying to murder you last night."
Elara met his gaze directly. "It has everything to do with that, Father. I’m not an idiot. Someone in this palace wants me dead. I don’t know if it’s one of my sisters, the Empress, or some noble family I’ve inadvertently offended. But staying here while they make repeated attempts seems strategically unsound."
The honesty seemed to surprise him. He’d expected her to lie, to pretend this was purely business.
"Running away, then," he said flatly.
"Strategic repositioning," Elara corrected. "If I flee in obvious terror, I look weak and my merchant partnerships collapse. If I leave to oversee legitimate business operations that will generate revenue for the imperial treasury, I look competent. The end result is the same—I’m not here to be easily assassinated—but the optics are vastly different."