Nobody seemed to notice anything unusual about Lina's behavior. Or perhaps some of them had noticed but simply didn't care.
The old king was dead, and long live the new queen.
It was a world that felt absurdly realistic and terrifying at the same time. The people gathered in the hall could mourn a dead ruler one moment, celebrate his successor the next, and behave as though nothing contradictory had happened. Their emotions changed with the occasion, their expressions adjusted to suit the audience, and their loyalty seemed to follow whoever occupied the highest seat. Lina had always known that people could be hypocritical, but witnessing it on such a grand scale was another matter entirely.
