Prologue: How Dare You
The office lay wrapped in a heavy, suffocating silence. I held my breath, every nerve stretched taut as I waited for her reaction, but she didn’t spare me so much as a glance—her eyes remained glued to the documents in front of her.
“….”
At last, the fingers slowly turning the pages froze in place. The moment those icy blue eyes—eyes that could freeze the blood in your veins with a single look—locked onto mine, a bone-deep chill raced down my spine.
“...You’re saying you intend to leave this place?”
Her voice had dropped lower than usual, each syllable heavy with something dangerous. Cold sweat prickled across my skin, but I forced a bright, easy smile and answered with all the cheeky nonchalance I could muster.
“Well… you’ve become a proper adult now, haven’t you, my lady? I have my own dreams and things I’d like to pursue… so… I think it’s time for me to step down.”
She listened to every word in perfect silence, then set her pen down with deliberate care. The instant the pen left her fingers, an overwhelming pressure flooded the room—thick, suffocating power that made simply standing feel like a monumental effort.
“Leave?”
The invisible force coiled around my throat like a vice. I swallowed hard, the dry click of it loud in my own ears.
In the eyes fixed on me, emotions too dark and turbulent to name churned like a storm about to break.
“How dare you.”