Roy knew exactly how the story was supposed to go.

A coup. A mountain of corpses. A kingdom turned upside down by the romantic ambitions of people far more important than him.

His plan was simple: resign early and stay as far away from the disaster as possible.

Unfortunately, correctly predicting a coup is the sort of thing that attracts attention.

Before he can disappear, the princess behind the coming revolution offers him a promotion he never wanted, the position of Chief of State Security, the empire's most feared intelligence agency.

Apparently, preventing a romance fantasy from collapsing into civil war requires blackmail, espionage, and the occasional interrogation.

Roy misses being a nobody.

Everyone else seems determined to make him indispensable.