"Guilliman, I have served in government longer than you. Allow me to offer one piece of advice — if you wish to survive in officialdom, you must learn to blend in."
"Prime Minister, what do you take me for? I will not consort with parasites."
At dawn on Terra, the ministers of the Ministry of State Affairs witnessed the Prime minister and an Imperial Prince engaged in a ferocious argument.
They argued from morning until sunset.
Without tea.
Without pause.
Without mercy.
The entire Ministry operated in silent terror.
One was the Emperor's Regent.
The other, a Primarch of the Imperium.
If they came to blows, collateral damage would not be measured in furniture.
It would be measured in corpses.
No one dared leave.
No one dared breathe too loudly.
When the Vice-Emperor finally entered the office near dusk, the tension snapped like an overstretched cable. Voices lowered. Doors closed. Ministers exhaled in collective relief.
They had survived.
Inside the Office
The expected devastation never came.
Instead, both men sat calmly across from one another.
"Prime Minister," Guilliman said, "I apologize for my tone today."
Malcador waved a thin hand dismissively.
"Do not. We agreed upon this."
They lifted their teacups simultaneously.
"Sigh…"
Yuki stood nearby, barely suppressing laughter.
The old fox and the golden statesman were becoming alarmingly alike.
One Week Earlier
"Sister, Horus has written again to test me. How should I respond?"
Guilliman's expression twisted as he stared at the letter.
"Why does he believe I am in league with the Prime Minister?"
Yuki did not look up from her paperwork.
"Because you are."
Guilliman had recently assisted Malcador in expanding administrative oversight across Imperial territories. To Guilliman, this was simple governance — necessary, rational, and beneficial.
To Horus, it looked like civilian bureaucracy strangling military autonomy.
"But it is correct," Guilliman insisted. "Why can my brothers not see the necessity of governance by civil administration?"
Yuki finally looked up.
"Because correctness is irrelevant. What matters is whether they believe it is correct."
She tapped her pen thoughtfully.
"How about this? You and Uncle Ma stage a conflict. A very public one. That way, the brothers stop thinking you are his accomplice."
Guilliman frowned.
"That may help… but it will not change their belief that I am ambitious."
Silence stretched between them.
Then:
"So… how do we perform this conflict?"
Yuki smiled.
"You know why Horus distrusts Uncle Ma."
Guilliman nodded.
"He believes Malcador protects corrupt officials."
"Some of them," Yuki said coolly, "have gone far beyond tolerable corruption. We usually warn them. Now… we make examples."
Guilliman understood instantly.
"I punish them."
"Yes. Publicly. Then argue with Uncle Ma. Loudly. Frequently. Convincingly."
Guilliman nodded — then hesitated.
"But I…"
"From now on," Yuki said, "you must appear incorruptible."
Guilliman hesitated again.
"Then… Ultramar…"
Yuki laughed.
"So you do know this is greed."
Guilliman coughed awkwardly.
"Macragge is part of the Imperium…"
"Enough."
She understood him perfectly.
Guilliman felt guilty for leaving his homeland. He sought to compensate it — materially, structurally, strategically.
There was nothing wrong with that.
The problem was his refusal to admit it.
Declaring every transfer a "strategic necessity" exhausted everyone.
The Conspiracy
Malcador agreed immediately.
In truth, he welcomed it.
He could not openly purge corrupt officials while acting as their political patron.
Guilliman needed to shed the image of Malcador's subordinate.
Their interests aligned.
The performance began.
The Great Political Theatre
Within days:
Guilliman prosecuted several notoriously corrupt administrators.
Malcador publicly opposed the purges.
Their arguments became legendary.
Terra's political elite panicked.
Soon, the Imperial political class divided into three factions:
■ Malcador Faction
Traditionalists, entrenched bureaucrats, political survivors.
■ Guilliman Faction
Reformists, technocrats, efficiency zealots.
■ Neutral Bloc
Observers waiting to see who survives.
The Hidden Mechanism
Publicly: enemies.
Privately: partners.
Guilliman flagged dangerously radical reformists → Malcador neutralized them.
Malcador identified corrupt parasites → Guilliman purged them.
The result:
Chaos on the surface.
Stability underneath.
The Imperium's bureaucracy began, slowly, to improve.
Reactions Across the Imperium
Horus
Delighted.
"I knew I judged you correctly."
Yet he sensed something deeper and remained watchful.
Ferrus Manus & Dorn
Uninterested in politics.
Fulgrim
Interested — until Ferrus expressed disinterest.
Then he lost interest as well.
Vulkan
Deeply worried.
He wrote long letters urging reconciliation.
Yuki reassured him personally.
Peace restored.
Mordecai Threxion
A Cabinet member.
He knew exactly what was happening.
He said nothing.
The Emperor
The Great Crusade.
Always the Great Crusade.
The Only One Truly Disturbed
Alpharius.
Of all individuals he distrusted, Guilliman ranked highest.
To Alpharius, Guilliman was an ambitious idealist dangerously close to believing his own rhetoric.
Infiltrating Ultramar, he often joked, was easier than infiltrating the Palace lavatories.
After witnessing Guilliman scold Yuki into clinging to a pillar to escape his administrative lectures, Alpharius's opinion worsened.
From that day forward, he quietly encouraged suspicions about Guilliman's ambition.
But now?
Guilliman opposing Malcador?
Impossible.
Unacceptable.
Malcador and Yuki were pillars of Alpharius's world.
Guilliman had offended both.
Action was required.
Not lethal.
But memorable.
Then the Rumors Began
Guilliman stared at the report in disbelief.
"What do you mean the entire Imperium is spreading rumors that I am consorting with xenos and maintaining relations with an Eldar woman?"
His voice rose.
"Do I appear to be such a person?!"
Malcador felt a sudden, dreadful premonition.
A Primarch scandal required resources.
Networks.
Precision.
Influence.
He opened the intelligence file from his agents.
Read one page.
Then another.
He clutched his chest.
"…Traitor…"
He fainted.
Inside the office, only Yuki remained seated, calmly sipping tea.
She looked at the chaos unfolding beyond the windows of the Imperial Palace.
"Oh dear," she murmured.
"What a disaster."
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL for more chapters.