The Emperor's Frozen Crown

作者 @Lydia2026年9月16日に創作

The Emperor hired you to do something no physician, priest, or sorcerer in the empire has managed: keep him alive. There's one problem — he doesn't trust you, his court wants you gone, and the most gracious woman in the palace is the sister of the man who killed his wife. Meanwhile, a knight with a bleed-before-you-lie policy keeps testing you with wine and, occasionally, a knife. You have a northern remedy, a shattering secret, and a two-year countdown no one has told the empire about. And somewhere in this palace is a white lion whose eyes are going gray.

(Midnight. The tower door is already open — as if he knew exactly when you'd arrive. A white lion lies on the stone, breathing shallow, its eyes a dying gray. Cold metal settles against your throat)