In the great hall, the atmosphere was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"Who's gonna tell this king what the hell happened with that attack in the temporary quarters?"
The old king was already ancient, the weakness in his once-powerful voice plain as day.
But everyone present was flat on their faces, not daring to poke the bear.
Only the First and Second Princes stood bowing—similar in age, both middle-aged looking.
The First Prince stepped forward, ambition burning like wildfire in his eyes.
"Father, the attackers have all been put down. According to what we squeezed out of them, their leader was some outsider."
The old king's cloudy gaze fell on the Second Prince.
"Outsider?"
The kingdom's outsider inspections happened to fall under the Second Prince's watch.
The Second Prince dropped to his knees in a panic:
"Father, I screwed up my inspections. I'll take whatever punishment you dish out."
"Cough cough cough."
