Lord Darus visited the Queen's chamber as soon as the royal troops were confirmed to have left the capital of Abetha.
"Your Majesty," the minister bowed as soon as the servants closed the door, leaving him alone with the Queen.
Queen Niobe nodded slightly, accepting his bow while sitting in her chair.
"The Crown Prince is in Thevailes," he informed.
"Calm down, Your Majesty. We know they won't harm the Crown Prince."
Queen Niobe was aware of it, but that did not mean she would take this insult lying down. "That sly fox! The Queen of Thevailes, if she is not my cousin, I would have shown her place long back. How dare she plans to take over my kingdom? She is always waiting to take me down."
"Their plan won't be successful. The Crown Prince will never marry the Princess of Thevailes. He made it clear even before."
"That's why they went this far," the Queen frowned as she added, "Thevailes lost the war before. Now, they shifted tactics. I know how she moves, and this is definitely one of her schemes. She thinks just because I am not Cian's birth mother; I will not care for him and let him marry her daughter? She probably thought she can turn Cian into her puppet using her vixen of a daughter and turn him against me. Hah! They plot to have the sole male heir of this kingdom tie the knot with her daughter so that they can take over the future ruler of Abetha? Audacious!"
"It won't happen, Your Majesty."
The Queen gritted her teeth. "As long as I am alive, it will never happen. I raised him, he is my son, and only I will select the bride for him."
"Rest assured, Your Majesty, the royal troops, have left for the rescue mission. His Majesty has decreed war against Hatha and Thevailes. This time, Megaris is also helping together with Griven," he informed her.
His words pleased the Queen as she said, "Although our plan with King Drayce fell apart, he has given us a new opportunity to use him."
"Megaris already has conflicts with Thevailes. The young King of Thevailes is just as ambitious as his father," Lord Darus informed. "The size of their kingdom has expanded to thrice its size ever since King Samer's reign started, and if we did not help Hatha before, Hatha would have probably been swallowed to become one of its duchy or provinces."
"As if we will let him do it," Queen Niobe smirked. "Abetha is not weak."
"What his father couldn't do, he inherited it, Your Majesty," Lord Darus sighed. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he had known a lot of secrets regarding the inner circles of other kingdoms. "As long as that crazy military general remains in Thevailes, Thevailes will try to expand. He has already instigated the previous king to do the same, but at that time it didn't work after Abetha defeated them with Hatha. I already had doubts when King Samer married a Hathan princess that they would use this to get Hatha on their side, and now they wish to do the same by marrying their princess to Abetha."
"In their dreams," the Queen was still angry with what was going on.
"Of course, I believe Your Majesty and King Armen will never let it happen. Even the King of Megaris, too, he will do everything to stop an alliance between Thevailes and Abetha. Thevailes and Megaris are both militant kingdoms, and currently, their military powers are about the same. If Thevailes manages to take over Hatha and Abetha, Thevailes will have access to the rest of the continent. The King of Megaris will never let it happen."
Queen Niobe looked deep in thought about something for a while. Lord Darus remained quiet as he waited by her side.
"Seems like King Drayce's appearance in Abetha is not a coincidence. He was probably aware of it," the Queen concluded.
"Your Majesty is right. I had come to the same conclusion. Sending an envoy with a noble as a diplomat would have sufficed to attend Princess Meira's engagement ceremony. What more, there is no alliance nor friendship between Megaris and us. There is no reason for him to come so far to Abetha in person. He had always remained in the western kingdoms, and I have never heard him visit the central region." Lord Darus continued, "That is why I am sure he will never let Thevailes succeed in strengthening itself. He will do everything to help Abetha."
"Abetha has plenty of resources and a strategic position and is a kingdom with a strong army. One who has it can conquer the entire continent, but my husband lacks ambition."
"King Armen prefers peace," Lord Darus added.
"I know that my son Cian won't be the same. He has to be ambitious, and then I'll make that brazen Queen of Thevailes kneel in front of me," laughed the Queen, as her eyes filled with determination.
"We all wish the same, Your Majesty."
"For now, we will clean up the palace to better prepare for the wartime. Make sure to check for spies within the palace. We need to make sure Thevailes and Hatha remain blind. Also, implement the plan we prepared to get rid of that witch and send her to her mother," said the Queen.
"Consider it done, Your Majesty. Sir Berolt has left the palace with his knights, so it will be easy to deal with the few guards around the tower."
"Do it," the Queen ordered.
Nodding, Lord Darus left while the Queen busied herself hatching plans against her enemies.