"W-what?" Lord Omani croaked, his voice trembling as his tongue felt heavy, nearly paralyzed with fear.
His eyes darted around the room, searching desperately for support from the other ministers, silently begging them to back him up. But now that Lord Omani’s sins had been exposed, the others were unwilling to risk becoming the next target of King Oberon’s ire. Recognizing the king’s tactics, they had no intention of aligning themselves with Omani, who was now the unfortunate scapegoat.
King Oberon wasn’t done with him. His icy gaze locked onto Omani as he asked, "Tell me minster Omani, what is the penalty for attacking a royal?"
Omani’s nerves were frayed, and he hesitated as fear held him in a tight vice. The look in Oberon’s eyes warned him that stalling would only bring more suffering. With a dry swallow, he stammered, "D-death, Your Majesty."
The king’s smirk was cruel, his eyes glinting with a predatory satisfaction. "So why then," Oberon drawled, "are you insisting on using my son as a sacrificial lamb? Or have you forgotten that so easily?"
The ministers shifted uncomfortably, their earlier bravado evaporating in the face of the king’s wrath. None dared to protest that Aldric had stopped the barrier from being planted, which had resulted in more Faeries being killed. They all knew that, but to speak it now would only incur Oberon’s ire. It was clear to everyone in the room that, despite their grievances, the king still held the superior power here. And none of them were foolish enough to challenge that openly.
King Oberon let his gaze sweep over the room, making sure his point would be thoroughly driven home. "I will be the one to punish my son, and it will not be by the whims of the masses.Nor will I allow this council to be ruled by fear. You will come up with other ways to appease the people and bring back normalcy to Astaria."
Minister Barin, eager to redeem himself after his earlier misstep, quickly spoke up. "I will order soldiers to the places of riots to subdue the crowds," he offered.
But his suggestion was met with groans and facepalms from the other ministers. Even King Oberon’s cold demeanor cracked slightly as he raised an eyebrow at the man’s ineptitude. At such a critical time, sending soldiers to suppress already angry crowds would only further aggravate the situation.
Seeing an opportunity to regain some favor, Lord Omani stepped forward once more. "Resources should be sent to the bereaved families and the injured," he proposed, his voice steadying as he spoke. "We should also monitor and control the rioting Faeries while subtly shifting the unmerited blame from Prince Aldric. We could also investigate the vagabonds who started the fight in the arena."
King Oberon nodded in approval, and Lord Omani breathed a silent sigh of relief. It seemed he had managed to claw his way back into the king’s good graces. The other ministers, seeing the king’s positive response, quickly followed suit, each offering their own suggestions for how to address the disaster in Astaria.
One by one, the other ministers began to propose their own solutions, eager to show their loyalty and usefulness. Some suggested organizing public ceremonies to honor the fallen, others spoke of offering incentives to calm the more influential families who had lost members in the chaos. They all sought to shift the narrative away from Prince Aldric’s involvement, instead painting the incident as the work of external agitators who had exploited the tensions between the Summer and Winter Courts.
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