Lord Mei entered the throne room, studying the ruined walls with interest.
"Your highness," he bowed deeply to the Crown Prince.
"Lord Mei. Thank you for coming to the palace so late in the day."
"Of course, your highness. I'm always at your disposal. I see the walls are already being repaired," he gestured at the hundreds of servants working on the missing walls.
"Yes. It wouldn't be seemly for the seat of power of our nation to be crumbling for too long. Though I do thank you for your excellent strategy. It was textbook perfect and although we had the numerical advantage, I couldn't afford to wait while my brother had himself crowned as the Emperor. That would have added a most unwanted layer of complication to toppling him."
"It would have indeed, your highness. Your approach was the right one."
"Hm. Though his death was not my aim."
"It was his decision, highness. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it," Lord Mei spoke kindly.
