Location- Southern Region, Southern Capital, Royal Palace
"Next," Colleen spoke such harsh words knowing Richard could take it, and not to mention with the paw clan spies active in the palace she could only choose to dodge such sensitive questions.
Hearing Colleen, Richard who was shocked by what was next on the list of agenda turned to face the ministers and yelled, "Which one of you fools wrote the next agenda, and the idiots who supported it stand up for me now."
Seeing Richard flare up reading the next agenda, intrigued Colleen summoned her grimoire and went through the list causing the gap between her brows to grow narrow in a frown. Then she glared at ministers with frightening malice. Unlike Richard, Colleen knew the real reason behind the next agenda so she was enraged seeing that it was brought up in the court.
Seeing that both Richard and Colleen were very dissatisfied with the next agenda on the list, the ministers who were unaware of what was actually going on shivered in fright. But none stood up to take the blame, seeing this Richard yelled, "You idiots stand up before I began an investigation into this."
For an agenda to be presented in the royal court, it has to be supported by a minimum number of ministers as a matter of concern. Since this agenda had made it to the court then it must have acquired the required number of votes to gain representation in the royal court. Now, this was a real concern for Colleen, she was surprised to see that spies had such a huge influence in the court.
"I- I was the one who added the agenda to the list," A young minister got up claiming responsibility, and then added, " I have shared the list of ministers that support me on this agenda to your grimoire, Minister Richard."
"Good now, read the agenda out loud for our colleagues," Richard said while other ministers shook their heads knowing this young minister's career in politics had come to an end.
Despite the malice-filled gaze of Colleen, Richard, and the pity-filled gaze of his fellow ministers, Young Minister maintained his and read the next agenda aloud, "Your Highness, the next agenda is about the new security clearance levels and policies. Most of us ministers are finding it difficult to do our jobs due to this new transition. It would put our minds at ease and allow us to do our jobs if you were to enlighten us with the reason behind this new change in the palace security."
Richard was about to speak but Colleen interrupted him saying, "Do any of you ministers feel the same as him? Speak up now. If a majority of you feel the new security changes surrounding the palace are a hindrance then we can abolish it and adopt the old one."
Colleen knew it was a long shot to expect the paw clan spies to fall for this but she could only give it a try. If the unexpected happens then it would only mean that things were more serious than they assumed them to be.
If the majority of the ministers were to oppose this new security protocol setup to flush out the paw clan spies then there was a possibility that the paw clan spies had a grip over the majority of the royal court ministers. Now that was just insane, it meant that the cancer-named paw clan had spread enough to become the downfall of the southern royal family.
Thankfully none of the ministers dared to voice opposition to the new security protocol and some even went as far as to yell at the young court minister that put forward this agenda. This meant that the grip of paw clan spies in the royal court was not strong enough for them to act blatantly.
"Richard, open an investigation regarding this issue, put the entire Royal court under arrest, and send the southern watch soldiers to arrest the court ministers that could not make it to this meeting. Nobody will be leaving until the investigation is complete," Colleen decisively ordered Richard, and then glancing over at the ministers in the hall she said, "If you have not done anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about."
"As you wish your majesty," Richard saluted Colleen and began to make arrangements accordingly. Though Richard was not aware of the truth behind the new security protocol, according to him questioning the new security protocol was akin to questioning and undermining the royal family's authority. Which was a crime enough for one to be punished with death.
In the wake of the sudden turn of events, the ministers started to panic and whisper. Their cultivation was not high because in politics the person with the fastest wit wins. So they were not to be underestimated not to mention the ones that could make it as royal court ministers were the cream of the crop. They have bested hundreds of thousands of loyal and capable people to come into power. But no matter how loyal they were to the royal family and the southern region most of them were not perfect, some accepted bribes, some skimmed money in accounts and some practiced nepotism. Therefore most of them could not help but panic hearing the internal investigation, causing every one of them to fear for their future, making the court noisy.
Seeing them panic and kick up a noise Colleen wanted to order them to behave but before she could say anything one of her aides came up to her and said, "Your highness, Demigod Baylor from the central capital region is seeking permission to use the royal warp array formation to enter the southern region."
With the aide's words, Colleen's expression turned grim considering demigod Baylor's connection with Matron and she asked her aide, "Did he give a reason for his request?"
"None your highness, but he did say that he would be traveling with his wife."