The Crown's Entrapment

Inside the Great Hall of Cordon Castle

"Welcome back, Your Majesty!"

Everyone present greeted and paid their respects to Darius as he sat on his throne. Looking over his subjects, he enjoyed how Nasser kept up with his stoic countenance. He bet that the older man was so disappointed right now in seeing him back this early.

"Sire, how is the Princess?" Elder Handi inquired. " Ever since your return, there had been no vision of the Princess inside the forest shown to us. Is she alright?"

Hearing the question, Darius had a smile for the Elder as he said, "Xen had passed the test, so I'm sure that she'll be back in time…" He then gestured to himself for emphasis. "My presence here should be more than enough proof for the sort."

The Elder could only nod in agreement together with the rest of the audience present. All except for one person, of course, who Darius predicted would soon make a comment about this development.

True enough, Elder Nasser spoke his mind. "Knowing, or rather, not knowing about the Princess's current state, we shouldn't delay the trial by combat for the other candidates then. After all, we don't even know if the Princess would really return to our kingdom," the Elder scoffed.

"We should just proceed as planned, and, dare I say, that anyone who would win the trial should be proclaimed Queen should the Princess still fail to show herself during that time..."

Silence followed, and everyone could sense tension brewing inside the Great Hall. Elder Handi frowned, breaking the silence as he questioned his fellow Elder. "Why are you in such a hurry, Elder Nasser? It's still early for us to think about that when the tournament hasn't even reached the final twelve."

Darius smirked. Letting out a burst of laughter, all eyes fell on him as they waited for him to explain himself. "Oh, I just couldn't help it. I didn't know that Elder Nasser could humor me this much," he jokingly explained. "Still, why do I have a feeling that he's acting more like a King in a hurry waiting to have his Queen?"

Nasser's face darkened, but before he could open his mouth, Darius's sharp and deadly glare pierced through the old man as he said, "Next time I hear such nonsense during this meeting inside my court, don't blame me if you'd end up being kicked out!"

He firmly declared, "Now, the tournament will continue on at its original pace. And don't worry too much about my future Queen's involvement in it. I assure you, she'll appear before your own eyes before this tournament reaches its conclusion."

Darius then looked at Chancellor Talon, signaling the latter to begin the discussion regarding the more pressing matters that needed attention.

The Chancellor began reading out reports, especially the ones that needed more emphasis like the calamities that just ravaged some parts of the kingdom, not to mention the threat of expanding barbarians outside their borders that brought harm to travelers both going in and out of the Kingdom of Cordon.

"Now we see the matters that truly need more discussion. Now tell me, what're your ideas on how we should attend to these crises that our citizens are experiencing?" Darius snorted, challenging his Elders to say a word.

"I'm asking you this now just so that I won't hear any more complaints saying that I take action without consulting this court. So will you all enlighten me and tackle these problems together?"

He inwardly shook his head. He usually wouldn't let them participate like this even in minor disputes, but he needed to keep these Elders busy instead of hearing about such nonsense, especially things coming from Nasser and his allies.

They were almost well within reach of achieving their goals, so now wasn't the time for Darius to lose his temper. All they needed was to find Princess Katelina and ask her for help in finding out the truth about the past.

Doing so would help them tremendously to gather enough solid evidence against Nasser to completely bury him. Not to mention how doing so would let them even relay the vision that Katelina would see pertaining to Nasser's past using a rune that could show it to the court.

After a few hours of discussion, Darius finally let out a sigh of relief from seeing Nasser's disappointed face. With his responsibilities over, he immediately made his way out of the Great Hall. The Chancellor, who was on his way to the chancery, walked beside him.

Darius was still in the middle of walking when he suddenly received a telepathic report from Commander Jargon, who was currently managing the investigation pertaining to the former Great Justiciar's death along with the bribes that the guardians had received inside the Realm of Eferia in return for Xen's death.

He stopped walking, and Chancellor Talon halted beside him. Turning to him, the older man asked, "What is it, Your Majesty?"

"The parchments… the handwriting led to Emer," Darius murmured.

He then turned around, and there he saw Elder Nasser together with the rest of his allies talking. The latter met his gaze, and Darius gritted his teeth the moment the traitor gave him a curtly nod.

"So it would seem that dead men tell no tales…" he whispered with a clenched jaw. It was exactly how had Calypso predicted it. Nasser had everything planned out well enough to cover his tracks.

"Sire…" Chancellor Talon worriedly called for his attention.

Inwardly sighing, Darius calmed himself before giving Nasser his usual stoic self. With pleasantries given, he turned around and continued walking.

"We have to move quickly. I believe that Nasser will be more cautious after we got this close to discovering his plot," Darius grunted, plans upon plans forming in his head.

"I'll need Bartos to make sure that the borders around the Dead Sea are well protected." He then looked at Chancellor Talon and instructed, "I'll need an emergency meeting to be had with the Alpha of the six packs bordering the Dead Sea."

The Chancellor quickly moved to relay his orders. Seeing the older man leave, Darius let out a long deep sigh. Among those six packs, the majority of the border lies Gilas's territory in the Silver Crescent Pack, which was obviously under Nasser's jurisdiction as well.

Calypso assumed that Nasser would use the Dead Sea as well as his territory as a staging area for an invasion should things come to worst. They would either have to siege the area if Nasser was indeed to form a bargain with the Helion Kingdom, or Nasser would use the Dead Sea to escape if he happened to be good enough in knowing that his doom was nearing.

He closed his eyes, hoping that Calypso and Aurelia would soon return with good news. Hopefully, they could find the Princess and manage to bring her into their Kingdom to help them.

[Son, come and see me right away. I need to discuss something important with you.]

Darius blinked as he suddenly received a telepathic call from his mother. Mentally nodding, he quickly walked in long strides toward his mother's bedchamber.