The same night, Minister Darus Count went to see the queen as the next day was an important session in the royal court, and he had to update the queen about their plan.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." The minister bowed to the queen, who was, as usual, sitting in her chair.
Queen Niobe merely nodded to accept the greeting, waiting for him to continue.
"Your Majesty, the noble houses under us are informed to act according to what you said. This time, we won't give King Armen a chance to defend the Third Princess."
"My son will be there too, so you should be careful with what you say," Queen Niobe instructed.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"The King of Megaris?"
"We will make sure he will attend the royal court tomorrow. Though he had helped rescue Crown Prince Cian and the glory of success will favor King Armen, we will bring out what the King of Megaris had done. We can use it to suppress that glory and use it against the Third Princess to malign her image."
"Make sure this time nothing could protect her. May this mark her last days in this kingdom."
"I heed your command, your Majesty."
Minister Darus Count left after bowing to Queen Niobe.
——-
The next day, there was a strange fervor atmosphere within the royal palace. It was time for the most awaited royal court session that would inevitably cause a long-lasting change in Abetha. All the ministers and high-ranking officials were present for this assembly, eagerly chatting with each other while waiting for King Armen to arrive.
Soon enough, the guards announced the arrival of King Armen.
"His Majesty, King Armen Ilven of Abetha, has arrived!"
King Armen entered the royal court followed by his trusted men. Everyone turned silent as they bowed towards the king who entered through the main door of the hall and walked towards his throne at the other end of that huge hall.
"Your loyal subjects greet Your Majesty the King. May our Abetha forever prosper under your reign!"
Without paying special attention to anyone, the King of Abetha reached his throne and turned around with a dignified air. The bottom of his royal blue cloak that he wore over his ceremonial robe followed his path, brushing the floor with a flourish.
King Armen sat on his throne while Lord Eudes and Sir Berolt took their positions on either side of the throne. Since the king was yet to speak, none of the people inside dared to make a noise. King Armen looked down at his royal subjects present at the moment. There existed three main factions within them: those who loyally supported the crown, those who wished to strengthen the power of the nobles, and those who chose to remain neutral. He eyed in particular those belonging to the noble faction, who would never let go of any chance to trouble their king instead of focusing on their roles to develop the kingdom.
Lord Eudes held a scroll and handed it to the king. Like the previous royal court session, the first item of the agenda was the Third Princess and the disaster caused by her.
As soon as the floor was open, the oldest minister from the noble faction, the Minister of the Left, came forward. "Your Majesty, in the previous session, the court could not come to a conclusion, and Your Majesty has assured all of us about finding the truth. Your loyal subjects implore that Your Majesty sheds light on this terrible incident, as well as your decision regarding the Third Princess."
King Armen stared at the Minister of the Left with a straight face. "As I have assured you all, the Royal Bureau of Investigation has found the presence of skilled assassins inside the residence of the Third Princess."
An uproar took place inside the royal court, but those who were aware of the truth remained impassive about this.
"Assasins? How can it be?"
"What insolent creature dared to send assassins inside the royal palace?!"
Everyone started to talk among themselves. Lord Eudes raised his hand to pacify them. "Silence!"
King Armen continued, "The Royal Bureau of Investigation has caught the assassins who entered the garden, and they have also admitted to their crime."
Hearing the king's words, Minister Count and his acquaintances had sweaty palms. They had not expected the assassins they hired to be caught by the Royal Bureau of Investigation. Minister Count was sure he had instructed those assassins to disappear the same night after handing them enough gold to spend their lives comfortably in another kingdom. Out of reflex, he looked at the queen, who didn't react to the situation at all.
The doors of the hall opened, and the officials from the Royal Investigation Bureau and the royal guards entered, bringing with them six men who were tied with ropes and looked severely injured.
Everyone in the royal court looked at those six captured assassins. From their clothes, one could identify them as members of one of the infamous assassin groups in the kingdom.
The leading official of the Royal Investigation Bureau paid his respects towards the king.
"Osbert Canmore, the minister in charge of the Royal Investigation Bureau, greets His Majesty!"
King Armen accepted the greeting and instructed him to proceed.
"Your Majesty, these are the assassins who dared to commit that heinous act and caused damage to Her Highness the Third Princess' image and health. Upon investigating, they confessed that they did it on their own as they considered Her Highness the reason for the unfortunate incidents happening in the kingdom."
Minister Count felt relieved to hear the official statement from the investigator. The deal he made with those assassins was that on the slim chance they got caught, they should never mention anything related to his faction, or else, their entire families would be killed, from adults to kids, with no exception.
The king cast a glance at the kneeling assassins. "It's not possible to enter the palace without help from someone powerful inside. I am giving you the last chance to confess to everything and bring the mastermind behind it out in public. If you fail to do so, in the name of the power vested in me as the monarch of this kingdom, I will make sure your entire clan will be wiped off from this land."
The assassins felt a chill in their hearts. Comparing the threat of a high noble to the threat of the ruling royal, the choice was difficult to make. Both parties could easily destroy them with a single command. However, some of them were still hoping that the worst-case scenario would not happen—that neither of them would touch their families.
One injured assassin raised his head to gaze at King Armen. "Oh our king, we know we have angered you, but we truly did it for the sake of our kingdom."
Another assassin raised his head too, "Your Majesty, our clan has always supported the wellbeing of this kingdom and its people. We can't see our kingdom losing its glory due to one witch. The black magic performed by her has caused your people to live in fear."
"We did not even kill that witch! We only want to scare her away! Is it a crime to protect our families from black magic?" a third one spoke up. "Your Majesty can kill us all, but we don't regret what we have done. That witch doesn't deserve to live in this kingdom!"
King Armen's eyes turned furious when he heard the assassin calling his daughter a witch.
Seeing the change in his king's expression, Sir Berolt shouted in anger. "Insolence! You dare speak ill of a royal in front of the entire royal court!"
The knights standing beside the assassins each gave them a slap, causing them to groan in pain. The slaps were so loud, some of the weaker-willed officials in attendance trembled.
King Armen composed himself as he raised his hand, making the knights stop what they're doing. He opened his mouth, his voice firm with controlled rage. "I have given you the last chance to lessen your punishment, but you seem not to cherish it. You will be given the death penalty, and your families will be given capital punishment as well. Know that I will? find the person behind this."
The king looked at Minister Canmore and instructed in a loud and cold voice, "Torture them brutally;if they reveal what they know, give them a swift death. Hang their corpses on the tree in the center of the hill the same way they had brutally deformed our knights. Let everyone see what would happen with the people who tried to hurt the royal family."
The six assassins were dragged out by the guards of the Royal Investigation Bureau. One of them cried out loud, "Your Majesty! That witch will bring disaster to this kingdom! It would be better if you threw her out before it's—"
Clank!
Shliing!
The voice of that assassin turned silent just as he was about to step out of the door of the hall. Everyone heard the sound of a sword getting out of its scabbard, as well as the sound of something hard hitting the floor.
A sudden silence took over the entire place as everyone turned towards the source of the eerie sound. A tall and cold-looking handsome royal was standing at the door, holding his blood-covered sword to the side as the blood dripped out along its sharp edge.
A beheaded dead body was lying near the door of the hall, and its detached head had rolled near the feet of the minister nearest the door. A trail of blood could be seen on the carpet, yet the one who slaughtered the assassin looked unaffected.
"C-Crown Prince Cian!"
The entire royal court was horrified, with some of the administrative and younger ministers unused to seeing blood turning pale and faint. The Crown Prince had mercilessly slaughtered a person in front of all the ministers and the king.
Before the people could come out of this shock, they heard Cian talking as he looked at the dead body emotionlessly, without having any regret of killing the person, "Disrespect towards the royal family member is punishable by death..."
Cian then looked at everyone present in the royal court. His intimidating sapphire blue eyes gazed at them intently. "...and it applies to everyone, irrespective of their status."
It was both a warning and a threat.? Startled by the sudden turn of events, no one could say a word. Everyone knew disrespect to the royal family was an unforgivable offense, but most people kept forgetting it when it came to Seren, as if they didn't consider her as a member of the Royal Family of Ilven.
Those who wanted to oppose him could only curse him in their minds. 'You are only a crown prince! You dared threaten us like this!'
Cian entered the royal court and walked towards his father, the King of Abetha.
"Forgive me for coming in late, Your Majesty!" Cian bowed to his father like any other king's subject.
King Armen didn't question him about his actions and accepted his greeting with a slight nod.
The guards at the door cleared the dead body and the royal court session continued.
King Armen looked at his officials. "As soon as the Royal Investigation Bureau knows who is behind this, I, the king of Abetha, will spare no one regardless of the status of that person."
A shiver passed across the spines of those who were involved, but they remained stubborn. They had worked so hard for this chance to banish the Third Princess. A threat from the king was not enough to sway them from their goal.
One minister came forward. "Your majesty, we admit that someone wanted to scare the Third Princess, but does that remove her fault? Knowing who she is and what she can do, it is the will of the people to have her out of this kingdom. She has caused nothing but misfortune to this kingdom. The danger she brought, alas, the list is unending."
Cian turned to look at that minister who spoke out.
"Minister of the Royal Treasury, Minister Tudor, may I know what kind of misfortune? Care to elaborate on this list? This sounds interesting, but I have no knowledge of this as I have been away from the capital for some time."