[Forced Action: kill the Emperor, the Great Grand General, and the Imperial high command.]0

[Punishment upon failure or refusal: death.]0

Time had yet to return to its usual flow.0

Making use of the frozen time, I frantically pieced together what was expected of me. 0

My sponsor’s demand was crystal clear: kill the Emperor and the Imperial high command. Given that they had tried to share information with me earlier, this was a significant revelation if it justified an exorbitant 81% of my shares. 0

If my sponsor was willing to go to such extremes, even trying to roll the Dice of Fate with a meager one percent chance of success...0

They’re not trying to harm me.0

All of the Emperor’s peculiar actions, which I had previously brushed off as trivial, now snapped into place. 0

The way he hid a smile behind a hand while speaking about the fallen defensive lines, how he had been conspicuously absent throughout the entire siege, and his obsessive desire for the Shadow of the End’s artifact since the very first moment we met.0

Damn it.0

Because he was the Emperor—the ruler of the Empire—I had simply assumed he was on our side, never even entertaining the possibility that he was a traitor. Each time he had acted suspiciously, I had excused it, attributing it to the weight of leadership. Ultimately, that was a grave misjudgment borne from my ignorance. 2

Even...0