Mr. Moryett laughed heartily, “Oh, please do! You are the future King, we can only hope to be at your best service,” he bowed his head.
“You are too kind with your words, Mr. Moryett. I am more than happy to stay as an advisor in the royal court,” Calhoun wore a charming smile on his lips, speaking to every one of them while making sure to let them know how important they were. People were always quick to fall for the flattering words thrown at them, and they often obliged to be nice to the other person, and those were the people who wanted to impress others by their presence.
On the other side of the room, Lady Samara was talking to a woman who asked,
“Isn’t Lucy coming today?”
Lady Samara replied, “We did send out the invitation. I don’t know what’s taking her this long.”
Calhoun overheard the woman’s words but didn’t react to them. A few days ago, when he and Theodore were sending the invitations to the people who would be in their favour and behave as assumed, Calhoun had found the unsent letter that was addressed to the Greville’s family. It was Theodore who had refrained from inviting Lucy to the castle, and it only made Calhoun question to what extent Theodore cared for his half-sister.
Calhoun didn’t let his mind wander too much on unnecessary things when there was death to be executed today. When everyone started to head towards the dining room, Lucy appeared with her husband, catching both Theodore and Calhoun’s attention.
“I thought you didn’t send the invitation,” whispered Calhoun.
“I didn’t,” replied Theodore in a deep frown.
Calhoun’s eyes narrowed, and he wondered who had invited Lucy today. “Greetings to the King,” Samuel bowed his head, and so did Lucy. Laurence nodded his head and hugged his daughter.
“We thought you weren’t going to come. What made you so late?” asked King Laurence.
“I think the delivery person lost the letter. If it weren’t for Aunt Rosamund’s letter, we would have never come to know,” replied Lucy with a smile.
“Well, it is good to know that you are writing letters to your aunt. And Samuel, I hope you are treating my daughter well,” the King raised his eyebrows.
Samuel offered his polite smile, “I am my King. She’s the Queen of my mansion.”
While everyone continued to walk into the dining room, Theodore turned his head towards Calhoun and whispered, “Do you think I can add her in today’s list?”
Calhoun was displeased by Lucy’s presence because he didn’t want to deal with everything today itself, but Rosamund Wilmot had truly decided to fill in her mother’s position. “Depending on the availability of time,” replied Calhoun before making his way to sit at the table.
With Queen Morganna, who was no more with them, Calhoun now sat on the King’s immediate right side. The dining room was filled with chatter and merriment, unaware of what would take place in a short period.
Lucy sat next to her husband, Samuel, who was showered with questions by other relatives.
Though Lucy had put on a smile on her face, she didn’t know why the invitation hadn’t reached the mansion. Did her family not want to invite her? But then her father seemed pleased to have her here, to have lunch with him, and it was enough to soothe her anxious feelings.
She didn’t interact much with the people around her, but her eyes did slowly move to look on the opposite side where Theodore stood with his back facing against the wall. The time they had spent together on her patio during midnight seemed like a beautiful dream that was never going to repeat. There were days when she laid in the bed, staring at the walls while she had her back facing Samuel, wondering how her life had changed so quickly.
While Lucy was lost in her thoughts, Samuel turned to ask something from Lucy, and he caught sight of her watching Theodore. The man couldn’t help but question if something had happened between Lucy and the guard who worked directly under Calhoun. Even though Samuel had married Lucy for his own benefit without a drop of actual interest in her, he now felt the streak of jealousy spread in his mind.
But before Samuel could speak to Lucy, a heated discussion arose at the table with the King and one of the ministers who closely worked with the deceased Queen.
“My King, I would never do anything like that. My loyalty lies with you and not with Queen Morganna,” said the minister whose name was Merden. “I had no idea that the Queen was stealing from the treasury.”
King Laurence looked down at the minister, “People in this room behave as if they weren’t benefitting from my mother for working for her and keeping their mouth shut. Since Calhoun has decided to go through the records and find out what things each of you have decided to buy for yourselves in the past few years.”
The minister looked highly offended and humiliated in front of others. “I think you are wrong to accuse me, my King. I will cooperate with advisor Calhoun along with the rest.”
“Wrong?” King Laurence continued to speak, “I will make sure to find out who else is trying to dethrone me. All of them will be executed. Hope all of you tread carefully,” and he raised his glass as if to toast on it.
The two other ministers who had spoken to Rosamund two weeks ago turned uncomfortable at the thought that they were going to be exposed. Unwillingly, they raised their glasses with the others at the table before drinking to the King’s health.
“I doubt there’s anyone who would dare to try such a thing, my King. Please be at peace about it,” assured Calhoun.
Minister Merden excused himself and left the dining room as he wanted to tell the mistakes the King had committed, but that would only cost him his life.
After lunch was over, Laurence and Calhoun moved into a private room so that the King could speak about what was troubling his mind. It was apparent that the King had been shaken after the first attempt of his murder, and he didn’t know who would come after him.
“I think it would be only wise to change all the ministers with the new ones to work in the royal court so that we don’t have to worry about such silly things,” stated King Laurence with deep thought.
“I would be more than willing to do that, my King. Give me your permission and I will be at your service,” came the polite words from Calhoun.
Laurence said, “Can you sense it? The atmosphere in the dining room was strange as if something is going on that I am unaware of. There’s some sort of conspiracy.” Calhoun stood there with a straight face as the King continued to speak, “I will get a few things in writing so that it could get the approval.”
Saying this, Laurence walked towards his table, pulling out the parchment and quill. He wrote something in there before handing it to Calhoun.
