Chapter 425: Bound by Law

Ethan Carter – The Constitution Speaks

The chaos in the hall hung in the balance.

Guards stood frozen, waiting for the next command. Skylar's order to seize Chris had sent shockwaves through the empire.

But Chris?

He was still smiling.

A dangerous, knowing smirk. The kind that meant he already won.

His voice cut through the silence. "Before you make the worst mistake of your reign, read my constitution."

Skylar's expression didn't change, but I saw the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

I exhaled, already knowing what he meant.

The Blackwood Constitution.

I pulled out my tablet, my fingers flying over the legal archives.

Then, in a voice loud enough for the entire hall to hear, I read:

**"No one—**not the council, not the military, not even the acting ruler—has the authority to attack, detain, or overthrow a sitting leader unless they have publicly resigned or formally transferred power. If a ruler is alive and has not abdicated, their authority remains absolute."

Silence.

A sharp, deadly kind of silence.

The words hit like a hammer.

Skylar's shoulders stiffened.

Chris' smirk widened.

He was still Emperor.

No matter how long he had been gone, no matter how much power Skylar had seized—he had never abdicated.

Classic's breath hitched. He knew what this meant.

Skylar had just ordered an attack on a reigning ruler.

A direct violation of the very laws she swore to uphold.

Chris stepped forward.

Guards hesitated, unsure whether to raise their weapons or bow.

Then he spoke, his voice smooth, deadly.

"So tell me, Empress," he said, "are you truly ready to defy your own empire?"

The room held its breath.

Because no matter what Skylar Blackwood said next—

Everything had changed.