*********
A brief pause followed.
'Well… aside from a select few… particularly those within the Emperor's inner circle and his trusted retainers.'
The Nine Knightly Orders had seamlessly integrated themselves into the Empire, remaining hidden while continuing whatever purpose had brought them there.
And throughout those two years—
Scarlette had noticed them.
Not directly.
But enough.
Subtle movements.
Faint presences.
The quiet sense of being watched from afar.
At first, it unsettled her.
Back then, Scarlette had grown anxious, believing that someone from her past had managed to track her down—that they had discovered how she faked her own death just to escape the life she despised the most.
A life she wanted nothing to do with.
Not only did she hate that life, but there was something else she could never allow to be exposed.
The mark engraved upon her right shoulder blade.
