权力的游戏 在线

The King felt a little agitated by that reaction from the ministers and asked in a stern voice, “Don’t act as if I always suppress all of you and coerce you into agreeing with all my decisions.”

Zenon awkwardly smiled to himself and thought, ‘But that’s how you make them feel by shouting or simply glaring at them…’

After hearing the King say that, a minister finally dared to put forth his view though. “I agree with Lord Zenon here. I think waiting a few days to cross-verify the truth of the letter is our best option at the moment. If a war can be avoided by simply accepting the apology then I think waiting does no harm.”

Soon, the other ministers also agreed one by one.

Even Caspian wasn’t willing to sacrifice the life of his valuable soldiers just to satisfy his thirst for revenge.

Thus, after listening to everyone’s opinion, Caspian finally spoke, “Okay. Since all of you have suggested that waiting is better, I think I can spare a few more days and wait for our men to gather truthful information.”

Everyone in the hall heaved a quiet sigh of relief after hearing the King’s words.

“Today’s session is dismissed.” Caspian got up from his throne and was about to leave the hall when his feet suddenly halted. He turned to look at the ministers one more time and added before leaving the hall, “Have a goodnight, everyone. Please excuse me if I came as a bit overbearing tonight. I hope you will try to understand the position I am in.”

.....

The ministers looked somewhat delighted when the King wished them goodnight, which in itself was extremely rare. And to add to that, the King even apologized to them for his dominating behavior. They happily bowed to the King as he stepped out of the throne hall through the back door.

Zenon followed the King out of the hall since his workroom fell on the way.

“Still planning on working?” Caspian asked when he noticed Zenon closely following him.

Zenon caught up to Caspian and replied while walking side by side with the King, “Oh yes, Your Majesty. I don’t have anything better to do at home. And there are still piles of things that I must sort out by tonight. So, I guess I will be here for the night.”

Caspian sighed because Zenon had been working tirelessly for the past few days and nights. He looked at Zenon’s face and said empathetically, “I know we can go on for days without sleep. But even so, I think you need to let your mind rest, Zenon.”

He looked straight ahead at the corridor and made a sarcastic remark to push Zenon to take some rest, “I don’t want your tired mind to give me some stupid suggestion. These days, I cannot rely just on myself to make any decisions because that wolf has successfully rented a huge piece of my mind.”

Zenon softly smiled and gave a nod to Caspian. “Then I must ensure that my mind is well rested and ready to offer you brilliant suggestions as always.”

Caspian finally smiled and patted Zenon’s shoulder. “Alright, I will go and see what the Queen is doing. I bet she is restlessly looking at the door by now.”

Zenon understood it was Caspian who was desperate to see his wife. “Then why don’t you suggest to the Queen that she bring the tea for you twice a day? She will be less restless if she gets to see you more often during the day.”

“Ah!” Caspian raised his brows and gave an appreciative gaze to Zenon. “That’s a brilliant idea right there. I might as well ask her to do so.”

His eyes further twinkled when he mumbled happily, “Ooh! Or… I can ask her to have lunch together with me as I sip on the lovely tea that she brews. That way I can spend some quality time with her in the afternoon as well. And I can also ensure that she is eating her greens as well. I heard she only demands pastries and cakes for lunch. I am no human but I don’t think too much sweet is good for her already tricky health. I hope she won’t…”

Zenon was happy to see the spark in the King’s eyes. He would have loved to hear the King go on and on about his wife. But his destination had arrived.

Thus, he dared to stop the King and said, “Your Majesty, I will look into an urgent matter and retire for the night. I hope you have a stress-free night.”

Caspian gave a nod and replied, “You too, Zenon. Do not overwork yourself. The situation isn’t so dire yet that you need to start looking like a vampire that went into eternal sleep.”

“I will try not to look like that,” Zenon replied as he smiled and pressed his palm on his pale cheek.

After the King continued walking down the corridor, Zenon entered his workroom so that he could prepare for tomorrow’s agenda before going home.

‘Better complete planning for tomorrow by tonight like always. Else I will have to run the meeting blindly if something comes up in the morning.’

Zenon sat down on his chair and began to work on the plan. He was arranging agendas for the next day so that the meeting would run smoothly and everyone’s time would be properly utilized.

After working on the agendas for almost an hour, he finally closed the file and yawned. “Okay, I think I will sleep a little. I really miss my hard bed at this point.”

Just as he was about to leave the room, he heard a subtle knock on the door.

‘It better be something urgent,’ he sighed and then asked while looking at the closed door, “Come in.”

Zenon’s heart picked up the pace when he saw the spy who he had sent to Xanmar for gathering information.

The spy gently bowed and said, “I was going to report to you tomorrow morning but the guards said that you were still here. So, I came by right now… I hope that I’m not–”

“No, you’re not disturbing me,” Zenon answered that spy’s unasked question and looked at the file that he was holding. “So, do you have a complete report?”

The spy handed over the file as he answered, “It’s not complete, but it is all I’ve got for now.”

“Oh?” Zenon wondered if the half information would be any good.”

“My men are still there, gathering the remaining information. I came here because I…” The spy pulled out another file from the inside pocket of his overcoat and heaved a deep sigh. And he continued as he held out that file towards Zenon, “I found a very disturbing information about our Queen.”