Chapter 50 - (3)

"What?" Prince Thelmus stood abruptly. He understood what was going on; some faction wishes to get rid of his mother. They wanted to make sure that she does not get there to defend herself. Of all the people he wondered could have done this, his father; the king, never crossed his mind.

He must not appear before the court; it will seem suspicious, he thought. If this situation was unmanageable, it would not do him good to try and stop this proceeding. After all twenty years since his birth, his father was still to name him crown prince. He could not be rash. Still, his mother was his only supporter. He needed her in her position. This was also an attack aimed at him.

"Go and announce to the court that I have collapsed and am not breathing. Request for my royal father to come see me." he instructed her and she left in haste.

On the other side of the palace, Lady Raine stood. She was grandly dressed and sitting in the king's study, when a shadow suddenly appeared before her. She looked at her maid; Ria, garbed in black.

"My lady, the prince was informed by a maid about the proceedings. The prince instructed her to tell His Majesty that he is not breathing and His Majesty should visit." Ria said and her lady laughed.

"Brilliant." she said.

"I already had her stopped. She is now unconscious. If you had not ordered we spill no blood, she would have already been pouring ciere for her ancestors."

"The key to this plan is for the king to maintain his ignorance and by so doing, his innocence. He must not be suspected at all, or else Northern Lan can get the Religion react, placing a crime of framing the spouse on him. If the maid arrived and asked the king to go see his dying son and the king refuses as he wants to see the plan to the end, people will say he was the orchestrator of this entire situation. It matters not. I already have another scheme to prove his innocence if that happened." Lady Raine said with a smile.

"We have cleared out any maid not working with us and replaced them with ours; the guards as well. Any that passes would think all is well." Ria reported.

"Good. When the king leads all to her chambers, everyone must assume all is well in the palace and that no one was prepared for today. What about that woman?" Lady Raine asked.

"The queen? We have kept her busy. Things must be reaching a point of no return by now." Ria answered.

On the other side of the palace, in the throne room, the king stared at the papers presented before him as his face sunk into gloom.

"Is this real?" his voice lowered dangerously. They all understood, what ever he was given, it must be big. The king's voice only lowered when he was angry.

"I can testify that this is real, my king." minister of trade said, joining Official Yrum to kneel.

"How can you testify to this?" the king asked.

"I was instructed by the queen to help her transport large crates from the palace and hand them over to the Mclears. I only needed to ask some in my ministry to help out, but since it was the queen, I wanted to oversee this myself. Only after Official Yrum had presented his investigation did I find out what I had helped with. Your Majesty, I deserve to die! I should have asked questions! I should have...." the minister of trade said.

"Good. Good. Under my nose, my queen; six of my ministers; and even some of the nobles, conspire and steal from the crown. Guards! Today, I will get to the bottom of this." the king raged before breaking into a coughing fit. The physician appeared by his side almost immediately. He knew that the king was healthy and should not be reacting this way in anger, so he finally understood what was happening. The king was finally acting against the queen. He decided he must part his part well.

"Your Majesty, you must calm your anger. Your body cannot take it!" he said as he took out some tonics to hand to get the king to drink. The king pushed away his hand in anger as the guards arrived.

"No one leaves this hall! Someone bring the queen here!" the king said before turning to the officials who were now all kneeling.

"Official Garret!" King Larken called and the old official trembled.

"Yes, Your Majesty" Official Garret bowed.

"Take this, I give you the power of the military. Today, every single one of those in that list should be executed along with three generations before and after him, to the last child!" he threw the scroll to the trembling man. The minister had heard the order and a had sighed a relief, but still could not stop trembling. Many of the ministers immediately started to beg.

"Your Majesty! Please investigate! A Piece of paper should not cancel out all the years of service! The official office will become a laughing stock if this gets out!" most of the ministers began to shout.

"So, I should let you all continue at it? The evidence of your crime has been penned in black and white and you still dare to protest?! Fine. Minister of Justice, tell them their crime!" the king said bellowed in anger.

"Official Thrym; serving as an official in the Northern Lan royal court.

Official Orstu; sold military aid to Northern Lan without royal order....." Official Garret began to read the list. Those mentioned, paled.

"The evidence in your hand, do they support these claims, Minister of Justice?!" the king asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." the old minister answer, wiping sweat off his brow. The entire court broke out in pleas.

"Mercy! Your Majesty, spare the young and old" some started to plead for their family's lives.

"Why is the queen not here? She must come and defend herself!" the king asked. He could already be seen shaking in anger.

"Your Majesty, I tried to invite the queen but was ordered away, I.. I..." a female maid stuttered while on her knees.

"Oh? So she takes this king's words as air? Guards, follow me! I will drag that woman out here even if I have to cut off her arms!" the king descended from the throne.