"You cannot be serious... He marches into the city with an army and here he is walking back into the Senate itself as if nothing happened!?" a senator snaps as I walk into the main chamber with a royal order of clemency in my grips. Quickly eyeing my falling apart faction, I somewhat appreciate the way it is going as a lot of this is soon to be no longer needed. Once The Lady Bosphama is executed, I will be able to mobilize all that I have set up over the long years. Her lands will be annexed into mine through the precise movement of an army of lawmen and merchants.

"Members of the Senate, may I have your attention!" I call out with all the usual authority my voice carries. The clamouring politicians go quiet and even those who are usually against me and those most recently spurred to their side turn silent. Adjusting my footing so that I am in a higher position, I make sure that the royal order is as proudly displayed as my sash.

"Senator Burspharosa has the floor!" a caller cries out as a large but hasty and tacky display is let down by the low-born servants serving in the chamber. Word spreads from ear to ear in the form of surprised and shocked whispers and many eyes find themselves double-checking the empty side of the chamber.

"In recent times, the former Lady of the Bosphama clan committed a most heinous of acts. The head of the investigation team sent to observe her recent troubling behaviour was murdered in cold blood in full view of Imperial staff. On top of bringing these details to light for this honoured Senate, I am here to speak on behalf of the deceased so that their memory will be done justice."

I eye the men around Senator Lepiaciai.

"Following the reveal of dangerous information, the former Lady of the Bosphama clan, who I shall refer to as she was for simplicity. She murdered him. This young man, one of our freshest and most energetic was cut down far before he should have in the most shameful of ways. Not because he was a coward, far from it, he did not run even as a woman of the finest Thurnmourer-bred stock tore into him with the viciousness only an enraged mother can muster."

I catch the disturbances of a whisper from my main suspect.

"He held his ground even as The Lady Bosphama tore into him like an animal, thoroughly convinced he had paid for and ordered a Partahinobi-led assassination attempt on the Bosphama Lady-Heir. Now, like with all men, none of us can ever truly know a man fully, but I ask each and every one of you to for a moment think of the deceased Senator Caetusi. I want you to ask yourselves the kind of man he was, how awestruck he was when he first entered these halls and how nervous he was amongst such well-earned and storied grandeur and glory. For I can tell you without a doubt that this is a man of innocent stock, motivated by the sacrifices of those who sought only to see their families not run from the deep sea, but to stay where their ancestors did so that they may thrive."

I say, giving myself a moment of quiet pause so that the senators may consider their thoughts. Unlike what I just described, they remind me of a calm sea, the whispers leaving their mouths only rippling the still clarity of its reflection. Others have nothing to say or think, I have done it for them and all they find themselves doing is giving a quick nod. Some doubt my words, they try to convince themselves that the man I have just described is fictitious.

The silence continues and grows as people find the end of their thoughts, otherwise satisfied with their understanding of the situation. I meet the eyes of many as they begin to feel the weight of my enforced quiet. Senator Lepiaciai does not buckle and I stare deep into his gaze as his expression all but evokes the dare he wishes to speak. We break away from our visual collision and I take in a deep breath.

"Members of our smaller-than-needed Senate, I am sure many of you have reached the same conclusion. Confusion. How could a man of such rural innocence stoop to the level of assassins, famed and backboned as they are otherwise portrayed. You are right in that mindset. Senator Caetusi did not order such an attack, there is no way he could have with his time otherwise occupied with the investigation into The Lady Bosphama. He had no friends among you and he certainly had no support, I have seen with great clarity how you all gazed to the end of the chamber."

I gesture to the open spot.

"How is it that such a barely occupied space of such an endless chamber feels empty now? How is it that but one chair captivates this room? Because Senator Caetusi was a man of stalwart determination to help the people of this land. Even now, if you open your ears, the people cry for their fallen representative. Their hope to remain in the light and grasp of our glorious god."

I hold my clemency high, then, drop it between the gaps of thunder that otherwise ambience our meetings.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Senator Caetusi was set up, he was turned into a scapegoat of one of you and your machinations to murder a noble of this land. Not just any, but the daughter of one of the greatest clans this land has ever seen, the Bosphama. Many of you already grow red, turning on me, but I point out to you all that I am no fool and you all do not take me for one. Senator Caetusi did not order the attack, he did not step up with such doped ego thinking he could get what he wanted."

I point my free hand the way of Senator Lepiaciai but not directly.

"Those who have much to gain from this affair are clearly seated and corraled together like farmer's stock. They shirk and hide at my accusation and that only proves their guilt and involvement in the matter. In recent times this beloved Senate has lost one of the men that history and the people will remember as one of its greatest. The man who did all he could to ferry families out ahead of time. To save their businesses to the utmost extent whilst what money he could scrounge together after all of that. After all of that! He used it to try and save their homes in full."

A golden bolt strikes so clearly above.

"The man heading this kind will, this desire to do good by the people and the power to act for the good of all Eusorochii is no longer with us. The chair he was ostracised to echoes with the rebounds of thunder that it should not have to face. Look to yourself, all of you, look to yourself and know what you have done, know that the people will fall to the depths. Do you hear them, senators? Do you hear the people mourn for the loss of their representative, do you see how the servants here shake anxiously knowing that their homes may be next? That they may not have a family to go back to once their terms are up?"

I bring my active arm down to my side with a slow, calm breath through my nose.

"Members of the Senate, the Eusorochii Senate, let it be known that once the murderer of the good man, Senator Caetusi has been executed most hastily. Let it be known..."

I lose my train of thought as I look towards the empty chair.

"Now this is all well and good, Senator Burspharosa, but your sensationalist rhetor-"

"Let it be known that the one responsible for the death of such a good man, an honourable man shall not escape justice. The blade that shall take off The Lady Bosphama's head will be sharpened after the affair and your head will be next. I promise you that, I promise that to all traitors and guilty consciences that would sabotage our land for their own goals. As the refugees fill your lands, unable to pay for even a basic loaf of bread as they carry themselves with fleeting strength. Let them all be a reminder for your vile acts, let the man who would've saved their homes live in your memory until the day we are all free to spit on your graves!"

My arm comes to life and I point out each statue of a heroic member of the Senate's past.

"The Lady Bosphama may have killed him, but she did not murder him, you did. You of unearthly desires, sinful hatred and false pretentions! Listen to the people as they grow fearful, hear the sky roar with anguish when it should be triumphant like Thurnmourer of old, like the hero Thunder as he came with the salvation of mankind! You will die by the hands of the law or mine, your evil shall not go unpunished and there will be nothing in the court that you will be allowed to be swept under. The memory of what you did shall live on and all your graves shall read of is the evil that you committed."

Some of Senator Lepiaciai's people start to walk out before he slinks off amongst them, otherwise lost to me without a trace. My arm gains new life as voices break out besides my own and I aim to focus it all.

"Members of our mournful Senate, members of our honoured Senate, so glad to have a man like Senator Caetusi do good by the people of our empire. Turn your eyes to where I point, watch as they walk out with their tails between their legs! Look as they walk out on the rightful outrage of the people, of the land and the mother who shall never congratulate her boy again! LOOK AS THESE COWARDS WHO BESMIRCH OUR SASH LEAVE LIKE IMPUDENT CHILDREN UNFIT TO WALK THESE HALLS! SHAME ON YOU ALL! SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

"SHAME!"

Cries the whole chamber, from as far as those at the edge dressed in the armour of protectors. From voices as quiet as those who are present only to serve and from the worn voices of the honoured elders amongst us today. Men who would have followed hear the will of the Senate and they turn on Senator Lepiaciai, many even sneak back into their seats as if nothing happened and join in. I hold my head low and look to the empty seat, offering but one of many prayers with the hand I used to inspire contempt for such evil.

Calming myself down with timed breaths as the heart of the Senate keeps my heart pumping, I step down into cheers. I make a point of silencing those I can and guide them to offer their wishes to the man who cannot be here with us today. He may not have been a legend on the field of battle or a noble of uncountable wealth, but, Senator Caetusi was a man. The greatest thing any of us can aspire to be, an Eusorochii man.

Senator Deohiur puts an arm around me and guides me to my chair, "I think you may have forgotten to bring up the details of The Lady Bosphama's place of courtship with the honoured God of Law, Enorcoustice."

I smile like a forgetful teenager, "Senator Lepiaciai has walked out with many. Regardless of any sentiment amongst those that are joining in with the current noise, I have enough of a majority to decide where the court will be held. Murder of a senator and all."

"His Imperial Majesty is not deciding?"

"No, those mistreated orders of clemency also describe that he's handing it to the Senate as it was one of ours."

"Where are you thinking, then, Lord Burspharosa?"

"Somewhere open, I was recently given an idea about who I might be able to have guard the proceedings against any attempts by the Lady-Heir."

"Who?"

Lightning strikes and its roar reaches into the passion-filled chamber, "Something a little dangerous, even for me."

He nods with widening eyes.