"A war? And who are you all to decide that?"
The voice cut through the air like a blade clear, female, and soaked in authority. It wasn't loud, yet it carried further and deeper than a shout could ever manage. The words themselves seemed to crawl beneath the skin, forcing the hearts of every listener to pound faster.
"Did I give permission for that?"
Instantly, bodies stiffened. Not one person whether the weakest commoner trembling in the crowd, the high dukes who stood at the pinnacle of power, or even Merisa herself escaped the unseen hand that bound them. Their bodies froze against their will, locked in place like puppets whose strings had been seized.
All of them.. except one.
Amid the silence and sudden oppression, Razeal tilted his head and let a smirk tug at the corner of his lips. His gaze shifted lazily toward the direction the voice had come from, as though he had been expecting this all along. And then he saw her.
Celestia.
