Camille Solin, a civil official at the imperial court who had risen through the Inspectorate, was now the "Northern Frontier Inspectorate Envoy."
The title sounded respectable, but the post was thankless. What official in the Imperial Capital would want to visit the Northern Frontier as it was now?
Many years ago, however, he had thought differently.
Back then, Camille had been nothing more than a bright-eyed young man in the Inspectorate, copying files, checking accounts, and writing reports, working day and night.
He had believed in the system, believing that loyalty to the emperor and his own hard work could set the course of power right.
Then his first promotion approached, and Camille glimpsed the crack in that door. Something glittered beyond it, but it was not loyalty to the emperor. It was gold.
"Without that money, you won't even make the shortlist." His superior patted his shoulder.
Camille wrestled with himself for three days before finally pushing open the door of an inconspicuous little trading house in the East Alley of the Imperial Capital. He had shared drinks with its owner a few times.
Only later did he learn that the little trading house was the Jade Federation's Silver Plate Guild outpost in the Imperial Capital.
The loan was only a small sum, enough to buy a few respectable pieces of jewelry for his superior. His promotion duly followed.
From then on, the door to power had been pried wide open.
Spices, treasures, and sensual pleasures on cushioned couches swept him like an effortless tide from the shore into warm, deep waters.
"It's nothing. Everyone does it," he told himself.
Later, the Silver Plate Guild began asking him to pass along a letter while he was at it, or overlook a page of accounts...
He became the first link