The Elven officials arrived in the court.
They were the top brass consisting of the High Elves.
The High Elves were the Emperor Ranks and everyone connected to them could be considered as a High Elf as well.
Just like the way there were elders in a sect, these High Elves played a similar role.
The Queen had ten High Elves under her who were known officially. There were more Emperor Ranks but they decided to not have such status and lived their lives peacefully among the common people of the Elven kingdom.
These ten elves had their own families that ranked highly among the world’s most influential and powerful families.
But despite having such strength and status, they had to submit to the lower nobles because of the democratic way of governance in the Elven Society.
These ten elders were all dissatisfied due to it and had it not been for them being weaker than the Queen and knowing she could wipe them out anytime, they wouldn’t have attended the current court session that she had called for.
The ten elders had taken their seats and behind them there were a few more seats in which the Half Emperor Rank Elves sat.
Lith stood beside Agalea and the court session began.
The session began with the nobles greeting the Queen. They first talked about the daily things happening in the society and the problems related to it.
One person spoke at a time and while the others didn’t have anything to do but listen, their gazes fell on the new person that was beside the Queen.
Previously there was Jasmine who everyone was familiar with but now it was someone else. They had no idea who it was but despite having the curiosity to know about him, they kept their mouths shut.
Poking their noses unnecessarily into matters that weren’t related to how the society progressed was something they strictly tried to avoid no matter how curious they were.
They hadn’t seen their Queen in action yet but knowing that she was a Supreme Rank was enough of a reason to not mess with her.
While they talked, Lith was analyzing everyone in the court.
He had been briefed by Agalea regarding the various Elven authorities and also had a general idea about what things they all did and also what sort of conflicts they had.
He knew for sure that they disliked the Queen and would do many things indirectly that may not be in favour of her. What those things were and what was cooking, he had to find out via their speeches and comments in the court.
Having been in this world for such a time now, Lith was well aware of one thing even though he had not experienced it yet.
When one was at the top and unreachable, the only way to bring them down was via schemes, deceit, and conspiracies.
If there was a powerful ruler troubling you, the best way to get him down the status was making all of his subjects go against him and have his status revoked.
In the same way, Lith for sure knew that these nobles were going to scheme some or the other thing to bring his aunt down. What it was, he was trying to notice and understand.
The nobles continued to speak one by one on various topics. Lith looked at the speakers but ensured that he didn’t look at anyone else in the meantime. Doing so would make them find it weird and that wasn’t a good thing.
The discussions went on and as things progressed, Lith learnt about a few things. He kept it to himself and made a mental note of things that he had to talk about with Agalea.
All this while, Agalea didn’t hand out any command to the elves or gave her opinion on things. She just questioned them and got their answers.
Lith noticed this as well and he knew she would only hand out commands as per his instructions.
There weren’t any commands that were needed to be handed out currently, but being the Queen, Lith knew she had to say some or the other thing.
Lith sent a small strand of his spiritual power imbued with information to Agalea sitting beside him. He had a barrier around him that made it undetectable by the other nobles.
Agalea got her set of instructions and she acted accordingly.
The meeting soon got over and finally when everyone was gone, Lith and Agalea went to one of the many courtyards present in the castle and sat down to discuss things.
“So… what do you think?” Agalea took a sip of tea and asked.
Although she already knew what was happening as she was more experienced than Lith, she still asked because she wanted to see how much he had learnt from the interaction.
Lith took a sip of the tea as well and said calmly, “at first glance, it doesn’t seem like they’re planning something. They were also careful with their words and ensured to not show any intentions of going against aunt.”
“But, their dislike towards aunt wasn’t hidden properly. It was probably because they wanted you to know about it.”
pαndα`noνɐ1–сoМ Agalea nodded her head. His analysis was good so far.
Lith continued, “In any case, they ensured to show no hostile intentions despite their dislikes. But… they were communicating together via secret gestures which were as simple as an eye roll.”
“Oh? You noticed that as well?” Agalea smiled and asked.
Lith nodded. “Elaith, Moruv, Lavasa, and Blanc… these four appeared to be in one faction. If it wasn’t that, they were probably allies or partners with common interests. These four are cooking something in secret behind the backs of not only you, but also the remaining six.”
“Speaking of them, Elaith was the last person who interacted with aunt before this session, right?”
“Yes.” Agalea answered calmly. She told Lith a few things while they were in the court regarding the nobles and also briefed him roughly regarding them.
“Aunt also said that he wasn’t against you before but only recently did he join the rest, right?”
“Right.”
“Yeah, wrong.” Lith shook his head and said.
“Hmm?” Agalea became interested after hearing that.
Lith put his cup down and leaning forward, said, “give me something to write.”
Agalea brought out a quill and parchment from thin air and handed it to Lith.
Lith took it and writing on it, explained to Agalea, “this was how we see Elaith with the way he wants us to see.”
He drew a few things on it while also writing besides them to make Agalea have an easier time understanding as well as picturing things.
“Although it appears Elaith was with you all along, it wasn’t the case. Here’s why…”
Lith began to hand out his full detailed analysis on the person with the little interaction he had in the court today.
Agalea was surprised with how well detailed it was. She also got another surprise knowing she had missed such a thing and then finally when Lith was done, she couldn’t help but stare at him with visible amusement.
Lith noticed even the tiniest of details such as the crease on Elaith’s inner clothing from far away. The crease indicated that Elaith had hurried his way to the meeting and was busy doing something.
This only got confirmed further by the fact that there was a small piece of cloth, probably a handkerchief, coming out of the pocket of Blanc, another High Elf who was the Matriarch of the Blanc family.
The two had met before this meeting and for what reason, Lith didn’t know.
But one thing that he did know was that these ten elves avoided meeting each other secretly because they didn’t want to alert the Queen or give out a picture that they were planning something behind her back.
Blanc and Elaith meeting was weird and Lith explained to Agalea the various other details that pointed towards how he was against her even before she thought of him to be.
“…and so… I very well think that Elaith may be the person orchestrating things in secret.” Lith got to the conclusion.
Agalea clapped her hand as she heard that. She smiled and said, “good analysis. But…”
“…these are all assumptions and not solid facts.”
Agalea pointed out the important thing.
Lith nodded. “I know. To know more, I’ll be going deeper into the Elven Society and blend in with everyone. I’ll have evidence soon regarding the assumptions I have.”
Agalea smiled. “So you’re prepared for this as well.”
“That’s right.”
“When are you leaving?” Agalea asked.
“Tomorrow.” Lith said. “I have to spend some time with cousin right now.”
Agalea chuckled. “It’s good you didn’t forget her.”
Lith smiled. “Of course.”
He then got up after finishing his tea and said, “I’ll go see her and leave after resting for a bit.”
Agalea waved her hand. “Have a good time.”
Lith nodded and left the room to go see Alea, his one and only cousin.
