Nightingale was overjoyed by Roland's reaction. She had expected him to feel attracted but not to this extent.
"Aren't we having a meeting, why is the hall suddenly so silent?" Nightingale's clear and innocent voice rang out. She decided to be nice and help Roland of his uncomfortable position.
"I'm not feeling too well today so I'll let Deputy Prime Minister Edith takeover from here" Roland announced. He felt that it was safer to retreat first before he embarrassed himself further.
"It's my pleasure your Majesty", Edith immediately accepted, smiling widely at the chance to lead and discussion and let her capabilities be known to more people.
On the side, Barov was looking upset. He and Edith were both Deputy Prime Ministers and were competing to be the next leader of Neverwinter, now the capital city of the empire. He was this close to obtaining the pinnacle of power! Roland mentioned that he was going to retire from what he called "politics" soon. This meant that Roland would just maintain a ceremonial role as the king. The one with full power will be the newly chosen Prime Minister and the person will be chosen from the 2 current Deputy Prime Ministers based on votes.
They were both tussling for power now and this opportunity just had to be given to Edith! It could not be helped though since he mainly oversaw the internal functions of Neverwinter such as Agriculture, Construction, Transportation and Finance while Edith oversaw the external functions of Security and Trade which meant that the new issue on the external threat fell under her purview.
"Based on reports from the explorer team, a new species has been sighted in the Barbarian Lands. His Majesty Roland has decided that a diplomacy team will be set up to investigate and determine their level of hostility as well as try to make contact. Details of the new species will be briefed to the team and the team will set off in 3 days time."
"Are there any volunteers or suggestions?" Edith got to the point quickly.