"I'm fine, Dorn." The Emperor replied casually, ruffling Dorn's stiff, straight hair with one large hand.
It felt rather poor, like scraping against a brick. Perturabo's bald head was much smoother to the touch.
The Emperor slowly let out a breath, smiling as he said, "This event is quite interesting. I think we can organize it more often in the future."
"Organize it more often so we can watch you cheat in increasingly creative ways?"
"You need the ability to cheat before you can cheat. Those without that ability don't deserve to sit at the table and touch the tiles." The Emperor answered Oedmeir without so much as a blush, bearing absolutely no psychological burden over cheating.
Several weeks had passed since the last mahjong game. Magnus and the Emperor stood beneath the Astronomican, using psychic power to inspect Tzeentch's condition.
Magnus was more curious. He extended his psychic power farther and deeper, hoping to gain a more direct sense of what it felt like to guide humanity across the entire Milky Way.
After a long while, Magnus suddenly discovered a ship racing straight toward Terra at an extremely dangerous speed.
Upon closer inspection, the warship belonged to the White Scars. Streaks of lightning coiled around its hull, protecting it as it passed intact through the fragile branches of the Webway.
"Father, Jaghatai is coming in by ship. He looks rather urgent."
Magnus fell thoughtful, but the Emperor seemed to recall something and immediately said, "Could someone be about to rebel again? Did Jaghatai choose to report it in person rather than use a nuclear bomb as my alarm clock like some child...?"
"Father, are you really going to make a joke out of something like that?" Magnus rolled his eye, deeply dissatisfied with the Emperor's joke.
After Lin Fan