Chapter 11
Part 6
"The Desperate Dance of Lady Chaeri"
Setting: A noblewoman's tea salon in the capital. Everyone looks tired. The city is strained. The usual elegance is gone—no flowers, fewer servers, and even the pastries look sad.
Lady Chaeri, dressed immaculately as always, sits at the center. Her eyes dart from face to face: nobles, baronesses, advisors, the wives of ministers. All of them have dark circles under their eyes.
Chaeri (smiling tightly): Ladies… we must unite. We all know what's happening. We've been abandoned.
No one replies.
She presses on.
Chaeri: The Crown Prince is not acting like a Crown Prince. He's behaving like a petty lover on a honeymoon. Meanwhile, the empire burns.
Baroness Leona (dryly): I suppose that makes you the ash.
Snickers rise. Chaeri stiffens.
Lady Margaux (wincing): My husband was promoted three ranks this week just to handle Adrien's missing generals. He hasn't slept in five days.
Lady Elise: My brother collapsed last night. He used to be Lord Adrien's military secretary. Now he's three people.
Chaeri (irritated): Which is why we must act. I propose we draft a letter, a petition—summon the nobles. Build pressure. We isolate Adrien and Ophelia before they return and monopolize power completely.
Silence.
Lady Sylvette (quietly): ...But they already monopolized it. We just didn't realize.
Chaeri glares.
Chaeri: You would rather be ruled by her? That girl?
Lady Margaux (blinking): She closed every salon. My social calendar is empty. I haven't worn jewelry in a week. That girl is terrifying.
Lady Elise (murmuring): She smiles while taking everything away.
Chaeri, frustrated, stands and storms out.
Later That Evening: At Duke Rudolph's Office
Duke Rudolph (exhausted, signing papers): Chaeri, what do you want?
Chaeri (snapping): You're my father. Fix this!
Duke Rudolph: You told them to punish Adrien. So they did. Now no one is left to do the work except me, and—guess what—all of his people were doing our work, too.
Chaeri: They're going to destroy me when they return!
Duke Rudolph: No, daughter. They won't need to. You're doing that perfectly yourself.
She gasps.
He doesn't look up.
Duke Rudolph: Now go. There's ink on my robes and I'm down two secretaries.
Her Last Hope
Chaeri sneaks into a private garden where Prince Felix, one of the more decorative royal brothers, is lounging.
Chaeri (sweetly): Prince Felix. May I speak to you?
He looks up. He's visibly exhausted.
Felix: If this is about forming a faction… don't. Adrien gave me a vacation house for my birthday and said I could nap until next winter. I'm not betraying that.
Chaeri (desperate): He's ruining the Empire!
Felix: No. He's just making us realize we were never running it to begin with.
He waves her off with a yawn.
Felix (muttering): Tell your father to fix the roads. My carriage broke.
Chaeri watches him walk off.
Alone. Forgotten.
And suddenly, she realizes… when Adrien and Ophelia return, she won't even be their enemy.
She'll be irrelevant.