#6. The Requirements of a Lady (5)

In front of the Imperial Palace gates, the road split in two.

One was a side road leading to a parking area set aside for carriages.

The other was the main road leading to the gates.

Julian paused at the fork, then turned to look at the woman following behind him.

His new aide, a civil servant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs dressed in a black uniform, had exhaustion written all over her face.

“I have somewhere else to stop. I’ll make my own way back, so go on to the office first.”

She bowed to Julian, then headed toward the open space where the carriages were lined up waiting.

Left alone, Julian walked toward the gates where Christian was waiting, calmly sorting through the tumult of thoughts in his head.

At first, he’d only meant to stop Louis Edmund from striking her. He had no intention whatsoever of getting into a scuffle with him.

His opponent was House Edmund, a marquis’s family. The Empress’s own family, no less...