"Well." Nii sat back at his desk, looking at the overturned chessboard. There was a trail of liquid across the floor, tracked from one door to another; the remains of the nutrient bath he'd made up with such care for Lirin. "Well."
"I'd think of something else to say," Howan-hakase sneered, "before you have to answer to the Empress."
Nii waved a hand loosely. "It's all valuable data. What one man can create, another can break."
"That's your whole excuse?"
Nii looked up at her from under heavy eyelids, smirk plucking at his lips. "It works the other way too."
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