I Saw the Fate of a Fallen Kingdom on an Imperial Edict

On my first day as emperor, the first decree I wrote cut the palace's expenses by thirty percent, with the savings going toward relief for the drought. The entire court called it benevolent governance. I thought so too. But as soon as the vermilion brush touched the paper, three lines of black text appeared on the decree. Only I could see them.

[Day Nine: Rice prices in the capital double.]

[Day Seventeen: Three government granaries catch fire.]

[Day Twenty-Seven: The Imperial Guard opens the palace gates, and the officials welcome the Regent into the throne hall.]

The last line was the shortest.

[The Great Sheng falls because of this decree.]

I was eighteen when I ascended the throne. My father taught me just one thing before he died.

"As emperor, what you should fear most isn't that no one will listen to you."

"It's"