The Empress Who Balanced the Ledger
Chapter 7 · free to read
He did not summon me to a hearing. He built a stage, sold every seat to the court, and then handed me the only speaking part.
Three crates. Four hundred tallies. A room full of men who wanted me wrong, and one who had already decided what my answer would be.
They had brought a farmer's governor eleven days up the river road and told him it was an honour.
The numbers ran clean for nine columns and then walked, hand in hand, straight to an old man's door. That was when I understood what the crates were for.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.