Your characters are the best thing in this story so far. I've got a good feeling for the world (interesting that modern technology exists, but it isn't common at the emperor's palace.) Leja and Kairi are interesting characters. If I understand correctly, they're assassins who held jobs as common guards to hide their true jobs. They were foolishly promoted by the emperor to captains, which puts them in the crossfire of other assassins who may discover their secret.

Well, the New Year's Party is only three days away and she has no0thing to wear! Doesn't everyone have that problem? I'll be read on. This is an interesting story.

Your diction in this chapter was very nice. Your descriptions flowed well and you managed to introduce the characters' distinct personalities well, which I'm sure will help the reader understand thier reasonings in future chapters. Kudos! I'm a sucker for characterization. >.<

The only thing that I might can comment on is that when I first started to read this story, it seemed to have an "old-timey" ring to it. I found it hard to picture the place with phones and computers. Maybe it was because of the details you went into with the government and such, or perhaps it's just me. Just thought I might throw that out there. Still great, though!