(Eri's POV)
When my father died, there was no coronation.
Not yet.
The laws of Kazunaga were clear.
A ruler must reach the legal age before sitting on the throne.
I was still too young.
Because of that, the kingdom needed a regent.
Someone who would guide the throne until I was old enough to rule.
There was only one person powerful enough to take that role.
Princess Sato.
My aunt.
From that moment, she ruled the palace.
Not as queen.
But as the one who guided the kingdom.
Many nobles supported her.
Many ministers stood on her side.
I knew what they were thinking.
They were already planning how to remove me from the line of succession.
Sato was not a careless woman.
She was calm.
Careful.
Every move she made was calculated.
From the moment my father died, I barely had time to mourn.
Instead, Sato began giving me tasks.
Duties.
Instructions.
Most of them far away from the palace.
She often sent me outside the capital.
To the forests.
To the mountains.
To distant villages.
Meanwhile, Haru remained inside the palace.
Training with ministers.
Speaking with generals.
Attending court gatherings.
When I once asked why I was always sent away, Sato simply smiled.
"It is good for a future ruler to understand the lands outside the palace," she told me.
"You should see the kingdom with your own eyes."
I already understood that.
But I also understood something else.
The day my father died—
danger entered my life.
I think my father knew that day would come.
Maybe that was why he prepared me long ago.
Long before the regency.
Long before the court politics grew dangerous.
I had a secret teacher.
The greatest swordsman in Kazunaga.
A man unknown to Sato.
Unknown to most of the court.
When I trained with him, it was always outside the palace.
Far from watching eyes.
Because of that training, I learned something important.
When you live surrounded by power—
you must always expect betrayal.
So whenever I traveled outside the capital, I stayed alert.
In the forests.
On mountain roads.
Even inside the villages.
Kazunaga may be prosperous, but danger exists everywhere.
And some dangers are sent by people who smile at you in the palace halls.
Still, Sato had one problem.
She could not easily remove me.
Not yet.
Because my existence was not only tied to Kazunaga.
It was tied to another kingdom.
Aryanda.
After my mother died, her brother became king.
My uncle.
Aryanda was not a small kingdom.
It was one of the strongest powers in the world.
Our alliance with them was important.
If Sato removed me from the succession, the alliance with Aryanda could break.
And no ruler of Kazunaga wanted to risk that.
Sato knew it.
The court knew it.
The entire kingdom knew it.
Which meant one thing.
If they wanted me gone—
they could not simply remove me from the throne.
They would have to do something far more dangerous.
They would have to make sure I never reached the age to rule.
And because of that—
every journey outside the palace felt like walking through a quiet battlefield.