"Where are we on the issue of the dam?" Hermes shouted the question the moment he stepped into the Great Hall. Mikeal tottered behind him, still disguised as a servant, eliciting strange glances from those who thought they recognized him.

"Everything is settled except who to send," Magnus answered.

The advisor stood on the right side of the throne an expression of displeasure propped on his sharp features.

"We have no able hands?" Hermes asked as he took his place beside the man.

"I am afraid no one is willing to see their son suffer in the humid rainforests, Your Majesty."

"Is that so?"

A minister stepped forward and bowed with his hands clasped in front of him. "I, your servant, am willing to let my son oversee this project in order to secure the people's safety."

He rose and shifted back into his position. The row of ministers behind him began to fidget and murmur until another official stepped out.

"It would honor my family if any of my sons could bears some of your burdens, Your Majesty," he said.

Following the first two's example, the rest of the ministers stepped forward to offer their sons to the noble cause. The few that didn't must have loved their sons too much to part with them.

Hermes inclined his head to look at his advisor. "And you said they weren't willing."

"I apologize. I was mistaken."

"No need. Even great minds make mistakes," Hermes said, just to get on the man's nerves. "Now, who shall we send to the build the world's mightiest dam?"

"I will leave the judgment in your hands," Magnus said with a shallow bow. The smile on his lips spoke of future evils to come. The consequence of crossing such a serpentine fellow.

Hermes ignored the warning. It was not the first time he would scratch at Magnus' reverse scales and it would not be the last. Most times his antics nearly cost him his life-he had the scars to prove it-but he had come out better for it. Besides, life was too boring when all the rules were followed.

"Why don't you all compete for it?" he asked, while watching the changing expressions of his subjects. "Since it is such an honor, only the best man deserves it. Don't you all agree?"

"Your Majesty, I have already prepared a missive detailing why—" a minister began to speak.

Hermes pretended not to hear him as did over half of the court. Mikeal almost felt sorry for the poor official who looked so lost as he slipped his memorial back into his sleeves.

"If my memory serves me right, hunting is in the itinerary for the selection?" the emperor asked without really asking. "The competition for the rainforest project will be a hunt. It has been long since we have had one of those."

"But Your Majesty, we have no hunting grounds in the palace," a minister said.

"It would require days of travel to reach suitable terrain."

"Which is why I am informing you now, in advance," Hermes said, drumming his fingers along the grooves carved into the armrests of his chair. "Any objections? None? Let us move to next discussion of the day."

"Peasants in the east are rioting over tax raises and are leaving their farmland unattended to, causing..."

Hermes' thoughts couldn't help but roam on hearing those words. The rest of the court discussions would be filled nothing but rehashing yesterday's problems without giving a clear solution. Listening was a waste of energy and giving a reply had no point but he had learnt to look as though he was paying attention.

Only Magnus, Mikeal and his mother could tell when he wasn't.

"If that is all for today," he began, when no brought up another topic after a long and excruciating minute.

"Actually, there is something," Magnus said as Hermes was about to get to his feet.

The emperor's gaze flicked to the mid-morning sun before letting it settle on his advisor's face. "Which is?"

"Controversy over the results announced this morning, I would have reported it earlier but you had more important issues to attend to," Magnus explained while presenting a stamped scroll. "This is the formal request for a re-scoring."

Hermes took the document, not surprised to see that it had been sealed with his signet ring, the one that had gotten missing yesterday night when he had taken the man out for the sole purpose of getting him drunk.

"You anticipated this?" Hermes chose to ask, ignoring the other questions Magnus' steely gaze prompted.

"I did."

If he had been younger, Hermes would have grumbled under his breath but he had learnt. In front of him were the men that had delayed his coronation because they thought he was too inexperienced and hot-blooded. He didn't need them giving him more excuses for why he couldn't rule, as though royal blood had not been enough during his father's time.

He peeled the seal of the paper and took a glance at the report. "The first three placings?"

"Yes, most of the candidates found an issue with someone who made it into third place."

"Who?"

"It would be best if their identity remained anonymous, for the sake of fairness."

The officials below began to murmur, thinking that maybe it was their daughters that were about to get deposed.

Hermes fought not to let his annoyance show. Magnus really knew where to hit to make it hurt the most. It was the advisor that had told him to disassociate himself with the entire selection process, yet here he was asking for the opposite just for the sake of revenge.

"What would you have me do then?" Hermes asked. "The selection is a matter of the harem."

"But the selected will end up being your wives," Magnus retorted. "I would have mentioned this to you in private but I would not want anyone to feel cheated. So here, in front of their fathers, I would like you to judge whose tablet contains the answers you prefer. Those answers would be awarded first place."

The man clapped his hands and three Scribes shuffled into the Hall, heads bowed and a tablet in their hands.

An eunuch standing behind Mikeal shifted to go and bring them up, but Mikeal noticed the man's oddly quick movements and outpaced him.

With his hands clasped in his sleeves and his back hunched over so painfully that he thought he would snap in half, he hurried over to the Scribes with two other eunuchs. No explanation would get him out of capital punishment if someone recognized him, but it was his job to protect the emperor.

When the tablets were handed over, the Scribes bowed and left the court. Mikeal climbed up the steps to the throne and presented the tablet he carried to Hermes.

Already, he could tell that it had been written by Anastasia. He knew Hermes could tell too.

As Hermes examined the answers, Mikeal fell into his position behind him. He had a good enough eyesight to be able to read the girl's writing from where he stood.

Anastasia's answer were the standard ones you would find scholars in the capitals of the Former States discussing with great interest, pretending that they knew his motives and could guess his intentions. Immediately, Mikeal knew that her tablet would be ranked third, if it wasn't already.

The last three answers were the most interesting to read by far.

I think the Emperor is a wise ruler who cares for his people and has the interest of the whole world at heart. He...

I appreciate the Emperor's wisdom and judicious character when dealing with the corruption crippling our great nation. Sometimes I...

From the moment I first saw him, I fell in love. I knew that he was the one for me and he would treat me right for the rest of my life...

Mikeal didn't dare read further. A quick glance at Hermes told him that he was already tired of looking at the tablet let alone reading what it contained.

He hurried to pry the stone out of his hands before it was destroyed by the force of his annoyance.

"The next one," Hermes said, hoping to Sūn that the next candidate hadn't been spoon-fed by his mother as well.

He let a sigh of relief when he realized that he couldn't recognize the writing. One look at the tablet told him that its writer grew up in the streets, her version of his life was full of both truth and speculation.

A laugh slipped passed his lips as he read. Mikeal looked at him with concern but was waved off by Magnus. Mikeal could not help but to crane his head and read as well.

The candidate didn't pretend to understand Hermes but wrote it in a matter-of-fact manner, as though as she wrote she had held up her hands in surrender and said, "This is his story, there is nothing I can do to change it."

She had mentioned that the Emperor had killed his father. Mikeal hadn't thought anyone would for fear of an early execution. If Anastasia's story painted Hermes as a saint, this one made him seem human.

Hermes smiled when he got to the end of the essay and saw the answers to the personal questions he had personally selected.

He could tell that the candidate had spent most of the incense on the first half of the test. Her calm and steady writing turned into hurried scratches as she answered each question with concise sentences.

Hermes' gaze lingered on the last row of words on the tablet before saying, "This one."

"This one?" Magnus repeated.

"Should be ranked first."

"You haven't read the last one, Your Majesty."

The emperor took a glance at it and recognized the writing straight away, it belonged to Alice. Having grown up with her, he already knew what she would write about him. It would be more fantasy than reality, easy on the mind but not containing a morsel of truth.

Nevertheless, he waved the eunuch over and pretended to read the tablet. What he saw didn't differ much from what he had expected. None of his brutality had reared its ugly head in her essay and her answers to the personal questions were almost identical to Anastasia's. Second place material, at best.

He waved at an eunuch to carry the tablet away.

"I trust your judgement, Magnus. It is why I made you my right hand," Hermes said, more for the sake of the ministers watching him than anything. "This tablet I am holding, award its writer first place and rank the others as you will."

Magnus took the tablet and bowed. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Watching the eunuchs retreat with his advisor, Hermes had an uncanny feeling that the man had gotten exactly what he wanted today. He couldn't help but wonder what Magnus was planning.

Of the three tablets, two had belonged to his mother's students. Somehow, someone had managed to displace the third one. No wonder there had been a dispute.

One of the Empress Dowager's people didn't make it to the top three in the first test, what blasphemy. Hermes almost laughed.

"It seems you and your mother will be at crossroads again," Mikeal said quietly as Hermes rose. "I did not recognize that handwriting."

"It is time my mother knows that I control what happens in my palace, not her," Hermes said to him then dismissed the morning court. "My future will not be sacrificed for the sake of politics."

"I thought you didn't care who you had has a wife," Mikeal quipped as they walked out of the Hall through the side entrance on the dais.

"I don't," Hermes answered with a shake of his head. "I would simply prefer to spend the rest of my life with somebody who likes to think for themselves on occasion."

~