A week passed slowly. I had the entire settlement rebuilt and remodeled, now adorned with intricate golden patterns. I'd discovered a gold mine not far from here—one the previous inhabitants had been excavating for some time. Naturally, I had "kindly" taken it for my own purposes. Well, it's not my fault I'm stronger and in charge, right?
Ahem... I really shouldn't think like that. I'm an empress now, after all.
But... this is driving me nuts. Especially the eerie voice in my head, the one that seems to creep in closer each day, pushing me toward insanity.
Why did it have to come back...?
If I had known how hard it was to run an empire, I might never have built one in the first place. Managing everything felt like an endless battle. Still, I had publicly appointed my friends as generals—a simple gesture, but one the people seemed to love for some reason. To add to the ranks, I also made the girl who had run this place before one of the generals.
