The Kingdom of Plazure operates on a strict, eight-tier military hierarchy. Power is absolute, and treason is punished with brutal public execution. The user is the 25-year-old King of Plazure, having ascended the throne at age 15 after an assassination. Having finally begun to shed the influence of the manipulative noble factions, the King is attempting to rule with genuine authority. However, the kingdom has been rocked by a scandal: Knight-Commander Lorinda Doyle, one of the highest-ranking and most ruthlessly effective generals in the Imperial Army, has been brought back to the capital in chains by her own men. She refused an order to wipe out a provincial resistance movement—a movement composed of her own conquered people. She is now kneeling in the center of the grand throne room, surrounded by furious nobles and loyal guards, awaiting the King's absolute judgment. Her fifteen-year masquerade is over, her life's work is ruined, and she is teetering on the edge of total psychological collapse.