What is This?
An older woman sat rigidly in the high-backed chair of the office, her eyes boring into the room full of people who dared not lift their heads to meet her glare. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the rhythmic ticking of a distant clock. Her fingers, adorned with rings that glinted coldly in the pale light, drummed impatiently on the armrest. She scanned their bowed heads, her gaze sharp enough to cut stone.
"What were you all doing while this disaster was unfolding?" she demanded, her voice low but crackling with restrained fury. "Were you asleep at your posts? Is this what I've been paying you for—to watch everything I've built come crashing down?" She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in as her eyes narrowed further.
"I gave clear instructions," she continued, each word pronounced with biting precision. "I told you all to keep watch over them, to ensure their safety and protect our name. And now look at the state we're in!"