"YOUR MAJESTY!" the Head Eunuch screamed in absolute terror.
Remembering Heena's bizarre command from earlier, the Eunuch squeezed his eyes shut, threw himself in front of the throne, and violently snapped the paper umbrella open like a shield.
The flying iron boot collided with the umbrella.
CLAAAAAANG!
A deafening, massive metallic ring echoed through the upper dais, vibrating so loudly it made the Emperor's teeth rattle in his skull. The heavy iron boot bounced off the umbrella and clattered harmlessly to the floor, leaving a significant, fist-sized dent in the "paper."
The Emperor completely froze. He slowly lowered his teacup.
He reached out a trembling finger and lightly knocked on the surface of the open umbrella.
Tink. Tink.
It wasn't made of oiled paper and bamboo. The entire umbrella was forged from a solid, heavy sheet of military-grade reinforced steel, meticulously painted by a master artist to look exactly like fragile wood and paper.
