The intricacies of the ornaments of the Royal Palace, as well as its historical artefacts, paintings, and significance as a whole, could not compare to Cecilia's current train of thought.
“To know who had done this…”
It was one of the more pivotal things in her eyes, this summoning was. She would most likely face the answers to who had killed her father, and who had tried to kill her.
She knew of the assassin that was the weapon used to do such acts, but never the culprit. She had her suspicions, but could never pinpoint exactly who had done it in the first place.
They could be anyone she knew to go against her mother, but they are dozens in number. The royal council ever since the death of the king had increasingly been trying to do so for more than a decade, and the number of people within the council that were either neutral or were in support of the Queen had also been dwindling.
It mattered not for them if the Queen was strong-willed or not, they only wished for power, and her husband’s reign as well as hers had limited their capabilities in coveting said thing.
“Such insolence…why couldn't they just wait till she passes on?”
She did not wish for any of them to gain this much power, or presented themselves as a danger to the royal family, but at the least that should be the thing they could be doing. If they were to wish for more influence, they could have waited it out and not made the Queen double down on her promises.
Truly, such a dilemma lived rent-free within the princess' mind.
Eventually, Cecilia would reach the end of her walk down the hallways of her family's palace, and met the doors to the promised location of her family's summoning.
“This is it…”
There was not much time to mull over her decision, that would be of no use anyways. So with a deep breath, the princess opened the door and entered the other side.
It was akin to an ornate meeting room, two couches with a table at the middle, expensive vases and paintings covered the walls and corners. It was a familiar sight to her, for she and her siblings have played in this room many times before.
In fact, those were the first two people she made eye-contact with; Tegan and Cassian Lenore, the First Princess and the Prince respectively.
“Dear sister, brother,” Cecilia bowed gracefully, “I have arrived.”
She then looked at the Queen herself, her mother, and also bowed, “Dear mother—”
“No need for pleasantries, Cecilia, the matter is urgent, take a seat.” Queen Marigold quickly shut her down in a serious manner, albeit she did hesitate with such an act.
Cecilia took a quick pause at such an answer, slightly appalled, but quickly enough she nodded and went to an open space amongst her family. She sat down afterwards.
“Well then, I guess the main part of this meeting could finally begin.” The man with an eye-patch said. Cecilia knew him as Alden Wednesday, the headmaster of the Royal Academy.
Next to him would be Hilde, black and white in her hair and eye colour, the combat professor of the academy. And to his other side would be…
“...you.” Cecilia furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at the amethyst eyes of the elf before her.
It was a natural reaction, afterall—
“No need to get upset, I’m here acting as a turn-coat, princess.” Selena interrupted her thoughts on her person, calmly responding with such a tone of voice.
It almost offended the Second Princess, but she sighed it out nonetheless. “Fine.”
Alden tapped his cane onto the floor again, interrupting the both of them, and to catch Cecilia's attention, “Shall we begin now, officially?”
Cecilia, who was caught off-guard by it, still nodded. “Yes, what have you uncovered, sir?”
“Simply enough, the identity of the one that did such a terrible act against you all.” He said, with a rather calm tone.
The four members of the family, as a result, had their full attention caught by those words. Tegan widened her eyes, Cassian remained composed, the Queen simply sat silently yet her grip upon her fan was tightening. And Cecilia, she was awfully silent.
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She knew of this potential opportunity, so she wouldn't waste a word to distract the man with unwanted questions.
He continued, “Not just that, but we’ve also uncovered the connections of that person. It runs quite deeply, I must say.”
“How so?” Tegan was the first to ask.
Alden crossed his legs and fixed himself slightly onto the cushions of his seat. He presented himself as a calm man, but the words that he would say—
“I am not joking when I say this whole ordeal has been a political conspiracy amongst the nobles, those who have gone to the extreme against all of you, Your Majesties.” He said, “It's not all of them, but a good chunk of the anti-royal faction were all in on this, and one man in particular had been the one pulling all of them in for that handsome reward of power.”
Said message, the one that the entire royal family have been awaiting for to hear. Despite their mental preparations, they were still caught off-guard.
“How could such an action of this magnitude slip under our noses…” Cassian commented.
“That’s quite the interesting part to all of this, Your Highness.” Alden responded, “It seems that some of the major people in the secret service were also secretly compromised. No wonder they could get away with it for so long, correct?”
“...what?” The Queen herself said so, absolutely bewildered, “We’re pretty much cornered from all sides until now?”
Alden did not react at all to her bewilderment, but he would continue with his collected tone. "Unfortunately, yes, Your Majesty. It was fortunate that I had the opportunity in the form of Selena being turn-coat to uncover all of this. Without her, who knows what will happen this year.”
“Then…” Cecilia interjected, “Who had been doing this all this time? Who had pulled the strings?”
The question that was at its utmost of importance, for both Cecilia herself and her entire family as a whole. If it weren't for the statement Alden made prior, they could've known about it much earlier. But now, perhaps they could finally get their answer.
“Alistair Draven, the Duke of Velmetia.” Alden said simply, “Known for his slippery and manipulative mind, and disdain for the royal family that went back to his great-great grandfather.”
“One could say this was a generational act of vengeance, perhaps?” Hilde would also add in.
A small pause occurred between the two groups. A halt in conversation in order for the ones receiving the message to contemplate such words spoken to them.
“Velmetia…that place.” Cassian said, “During the Great War, that region was completely ruined, did it not? It only healed after 100 years of recovery.”
The Queen turned her head to face Cassian, seemingly offended by his words. It brought a pause and a degree of fear from the prince seeing her acting as so.
“So you're saying that all of this was because they felt betrayed? That their lands were ravaged by war, and blamed the royal family for ‘neglecting’ them?” Said the Queen, before turning to face Alden again. “Such a childish reason.”
“I’d disagree, Your Highness, Your Majesty. While a degree of disdain did stem from that, it would seem that Alistair's mind-games were all his own.” Alden answered, “This is just speculation, but I believe he is the kind of man that wished to puppet his own royal in order to gain more influence, believing that the royal family had ruined the kingdom through their act of limiting the authority of the lords of their own land.”
“That's…” Tegan attempted to speak up, “quite the interesting reason, to say the least. He fully believes that we are instating a centralised government?”
Marigold's eyes glanced towards Tegan as she heard those words, and the Queen sighed in response.
“That may just be his more 'noble' excuse. No man could resist temptations of power, and they would rage the moment said power gets taken away from them.” She said to her. “Such is the mindset of politicians. Even the royal family could not be fully immune to it, Valerius’ legacy be damned they said.”
“Correct, Your Majesty. Whatever it may be, he’s pretty much the classic example of a corrupt nobleman, I’d say.” Alden responded, nodding slightly.
“Then…what should we do? We're hours away from the next council meeting, we should be preparing right now.” Cecilia asked the headmaster.
It was not clear on the current list of solutions they could come up with before something bad happens again. The meeting would most likely have a heavy air of tension with this information coming to light, and in no doubt would this not go unnoticed as well. If just one of these corrupt noblemen notice the change in the royal family’s mood around them…
“My suggestion, Your Highness, is for us to use that meeting to trap them.” Alden Wednesday declared, “Not only would it showcase that you could not be crossed by them, but it would also present an opportunity for those who support the royals to rally and root out the opposing faction.”
A small pause revealed itself once again as Alden presented those words, and he seemed to be quite confident in it. It was as if he knew of what kind of reaction that statement would lead to.
“...for a neutral observer, you're quite adamant about this, Mr. Wednesday.” Queen Marigold’s tone shifted slightly, a hint of excitement exuding from her voice.
Both Cassian and Cecilia noticed her change in tone, and it creeped them out. She seemed to have automatically accepted this plan non-verbally. It wouldn't be an exact lie that both prince and princess sensed a hint of bloodlust coming from their own mother.
Perhaps such news, combined with her hidden grief and anger, truly did hype her up that much.
Alden laughed, “It’s my speciality to host plans in support of those that are right, while still keeping my neutral facade, Your Majesty.”
“Then…can you explain to us what we should do about this?” Tegan asked him, an eyebrow raised.
Alden simply smiled, “That I shall gladly explain, Your Highness.”