Zai's mouth opens to say something before he pauses, a gentle look upon his face as he really thinks that pathetic question through to its fullest point.

A civilization of five thousand years has their plans measured in centuries. That part of Sophia derives from history and civil-politics. When they make plans it's not for next month, next year… perhaps not even the next decade.

What have you done? Speaks the prophetic voice of that gaseous giant that hangs in the sky above their world. What have you set in motion?

The northern states of the Dominion were always with Landfall.

From their machining factories comes the industry—the mechanization of the Dominion bought by pallets of silver Yin from Landfall, the centrals, and the southerners. It's the tractors that plow the land for corn and wheat, the bullets put into the weapons of Riflemen—the future of an entire nation concentrated at the base of the Wailing Fang range and its watershed rivers.

Sanji, Hwangju, Baekwon; loyal because that lord that sits upon the black throne of Landfall created a son of their blood.

There will sit a Crown Prince, one who will ascend those steps and take that black crown, who traces half his lineage to those who once commanded the gods whose bodies litter the base of the mountain ranges.

That's a power leveraged there, a promise of a future for their people for this barely extant bloodline. And now, as the great state of Sanji cannibalizes itself upon the corpse that was its mouthpiece, there remains just one power standing to truly oversee the game.

A power with a silver demon speaking poison in his ear, a foreign assassin with a blade at his neck, a thief stealing that sacred essence for her own purposes…

We've played this game perfectly. Sophia realizes, surprised by her own performance on this matter. Even if a poor schmuck did get cut up murder mystery style, we've practically secured our place in the Dominion power structure by stumbling into it.

"The… elimination of Magistrate Yun has made it clear that I will not tolerate any talk of succession for any state." Sophia derives under her breath. "And I suppose, without context, I have also demonstrated that your succession of the Throne is in the interests of Imperial policy."

The Crown Prince of the Tianci Dominion takes a shaky gasp at that cold, dispassionate analysis of his own nation. "You've done more to… politically secure the northern states in one week than I have for two years, despite it being an accident. But, there has been…"

That counts as praise!!! Sophia's consciousness committee celebrates. Oh my Soul he said we did an amazing job!

She remains calm as she folds her hands together to respond to that hanging statement. "Even if unintentional, it still is a favorable outcome for your position as Crown Prince. Those states are reliant on Imperial material imports, if you were to be disposed of or otherwise displeased at their behavior it would result in consequences both domestic and international."

"An outcome that is favorable to you, as well." Zai points out.

"W-well…" Sophia twiddles her thumbs beneath those long sleeves of hers. "... I uh… ah ha… I am your wife afterall. I have to try and make sure our interests are aligned."

The Prince takes a deep breath, furrowing his eyebrows and rubbing his forehead as he tries to formulate some plan for this.

"Gods…" Beneath his breath he whispers, working his way through this horror.

I still need you here.

I need you to play this game.

She's invincible here.

The power of that Empress and her Silver Throne hangs in this room, the weight of silver bullion and grain crushing the chests of these Tiancin people, and the shadows of those Aerostatics hang above them like an executioner's sword—the Imperium owns more of this place than even the Crown Prince.

And as long as she's here, as long as they're together with the threat of heretical fire from above, he is invincible as well.

Sophia rubs the black ring on her finger, trying to read her husband as he thinks, plots—schemes for their sake, their very survival in this place.

Zai breathes the stale air into his lungs, and then speaks to his wife. "As long as Sanji, and the rest of the Hwangju basin is quartered, I can take care of it."

There's more to that statement that he can't speak just yet, a cork in his throat that he tries to swallow.

Let's take our leave. Sophia's internal voice whispers with haste. Before he…

"I…" Zai begins to say, "there is a project within the High Court that's… within your capabilities."

No, bad. A thought process derives, raising its voice to the rest of this committee. If we get assigned this thing this entire premise is junked. Our one goal is to rot in this place right? If he gives us this then we gotta actually work for a living!

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Another member, feet on the table, waves attention to itself. If we refuse then our entire rom-com arc is dead in the water too, cause who'd want a deadbeat wife. So like, we gotta do this if we actually want this to be an interesting story~

Zai taps the table, taking a short glance to the Guardsman in the room before speaking to his wife. "Are you familiar with building irrigation systems and dams?"

Sophia tilts her head at this odd question. "S-sorry?"

"The Shindakami River is located between the State of Xiaoshan and Kazeyama. Sixty years ago my great grandmother ordered the river to be dammed."

"Is it dammed?"

"No."

Sophia wasn't sure what she was expecting from this low-brow, wolf-eat-wolf sort of society she was now very much so living, working, and probably dying in.

"Sixty years…" She hangs on that timeframe.

If an infrastructure project back home was delayed even three years heads would've started rolling…

Wait, not literal heads! Sophia quickly corrects her own thoughts mid-process.

"There's been delays in its funding process." Zai really practices his understatement. "If someone can manage through the bureaucracy, I think it's you."

"M-me?"

"Your family does have experience with these sorts of projects, don't they?"

Oh Goddess he's thinking of that gargantuan dam project they built in Cerenis Province! Sophia remembers in a panic, standing just a bit straighter. "I-I suppose so, but this hardly qualifies me to run a project of this sort."

And if we get put into a position like that we are gonna be cooked. Sophia's brain reminds her.

"Your Imperium built the Cerenis Dam in six years." Zai explains. "From the moment it was ordered to the day it was completed. Dominion Intelligence reported such a project, at such a scale, would've been impossible without delay. But yet, in six years, your people…"

"—I mean there were plenty of delays. Like, that entire project was a nightmare just reading all the paperwork coming from it." The Fourth Princess of the Imperium completely lays the eighth wonder of her home country out to dry in front of her own foreign husband. "My mother had me looking over the expense reports on the concrete for some odd reason too. I suppose it was her way of making me do accounting homework with actual stakes, but I did find that there was a discrepancy in …"

A thought process smashes the emergency stop on her tirade, yelling out an objection. Are we trying to get this job or are we weaseling out of this thing? Shut up!

Sophia clears her throat. "I… I do not believe I'm qualified to manage such a project, Zai. Are there perhaps any less time consuming jobs you need help with?"

The Crown Prince settles for a longing pause, trying to read the cold, unrelenting, yet somehow stoic expression on his political wife's face.

Whatever he says, we need to stand strong in this. If he puts us to this awful infrastructure project, we'll be there for the next fifty years!

Zai Tianci taps the table between them. "A project of this sort demonstrates that you are an active political body within the High Court. That position, of a politically active consort, will elevate you in the eyes of the Dominion, more so than you have now."

Sophia doesn't flinch, taking a sharp breath to look away at the windows to this antechamber.

"Taking control of this project can be a reasonable justification to avoid any unscheduled court sessions, and… to avoid any religious rituals that may make you feel… uncomfortable."

He's taking the hammer to the wall, the signboard to the street—but it's not enough. Her reservoir of pride filled with the billions of gallons of pure, refined ego barely disturbed by this crown prince sipping with a plastic drinking straw.

"Sophia…" He comes to her, taking the step around this table to really close this distance.

We are a strong woman with no qualms and give no quarter. Sophia tells herself sternly, trying not to smell the soft, sandalwood scent that now gently wafts from her husband. The Dominion thinks that a simple man, who admittedly is pretty cute and handsome and kinda my type, is enough to seduce me, the Fourth Princess of the Ensolian Imperium, into managing a hydro-electric project?

How crude.

"... I need you to help me with this." Zai Tianci tells her, avoiding eye contact as he really does reach for her hand. There's an edge to him as Sophia feels his palms touch hers, like wood run through by a thin sandpaper. His voice is a whisper to them two only, barely over the shuffling of cloth as he plays his game. "Only if you are able."

Aw crap not this.

Sophia takes just a moment to shut her eyes, turning back to him with a sudden chill. "Very well. However, I have terms."

He's seen that face before. Almost a decade ago in a cold, empty palace of white marble when a foreign snow fell from an empty sky.

Where people spoke a tongue of Axial, and held their tightened faces in fear against her.

In that military uniform of pale silver adorned with medals, in those dead blue eyes that stared at each of those Congressionals as they put their signatures to that dreaded cloth document of surrender.

Sophia Elise the Eighth is still the daughter of the Ensolian Imperium.

"T-Terms?" Zai tries not to stutter as he feels a pang of fear snake through his spine.

The Imperium speaks, grabbing his hand now as if taking charge of a prisoner. "As long as I am here in the Dominion, you and I will spend a minimum of eighty hours a week together. This includes one meal eaten together per day. You will also assist in overseeing the management of this hydraulic project alongside me, and any further projects as assigned. These are my terms."

When the Axials stood in the ashes of a dead city-spirit, picking through the blackened bone and rubble burned from fire stolen from the bodies of dead gods, were they afraid just like you are now?

Zai Tianci swallows the lump in his throat, feeling some deep, animalistic fear within him answer his own wife. "C-certainly."

"Good." Sophia pulls her hand away, talking a stiff three steps back from him as she still stares directly at his forehead. "Do you have any other topics to inform me about?"

"N-no," Zai barely manages to take a breath, pausing, then clearing his throat. "My staff will get you all the necessary documents for the project by the end of the month. In any case, we can nominally begin after the visit from your two older siblings in two weeks."

What?

What?

"What?"

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