A cold wind blew into the Obsidian Palace as the tall Duke Ferdinand Wendell strode like the wind through the long corridor. The attendants stepped back respectfully on either side, bowing and bidding farewell to this chief minister of the Empire, all the while secretly speculating about the reason why this "Wolf Duke" had been urgently summoned to the court.
Ferdinand did not tarry in the slightest along the way, heading straight to the room where the emperor was located. When the attendants opened the door, he saw the ruler of the Empire already sitting behind his desk, waiting for him.
"Your Majesty," Ferdinand entered the study, bowing in front of the desk, "I have arrived."
"This is urgent news from Andresha," Rosetta Augustus' face was as calm as a stone carving, his profound eyes revealing no emotional fluctuations. He pushed a report, transcribed by the messenger, across the desk and spoke in an entirely even tone, "We took a misstep."
