The room temperature fell few degrees down as everyone looked at prince Noah with accusing eyes.
"What's this? What exactly happened to his highness?" A tribe leader shouted. The question snapped everyone out of their daze as people started running around in panic while all the ministers and Insiders kept standing at their places with fright gripping at their hearts and panic washing over them.
"It shouldn't be happening now.... it shouldn't be happening now...." A weak hearted minister started muttering to himself as if reciting a spell.
People in the hall, which included tribe leaders, nobles and ambassadors were all talking at the same time and shouting their lungs out while asking for an explanation. The commotion caused the empress mother to look at prince Noah with her already red eyes as tears threatened to drop from her eyes.
"What's with this all prince Noah... Care to explain yourself?"
Her accusing tone made him falter a little as he leaped forward to hold her hands and spoke.
"Trust me Empress mother, it's a conspiracy, Adam poisoned his highness's drink and before we reached there, he'd already left this mortal world. Adam is currently locked up in dungeon and he tried to imply that he did this on my order but trust me I don't know anything about this all. I'm only doing what I think his highness would have done in my stead."
The empress mother looked at her eldest son with tears falling down in a stream. She knew he was innocent. He's been the most obedient and gentle prince in the imperial family. But the pain in her chest was making it impossible to think rationally anymore. She had been trying her best to suppress the sobs and wails at her loss since she got the news that her Life Partner had left her with a loss. She'd been pretending as pain kept gnawing at her heart but now that the news was out it was getting harder to not break down.
In the background, imperial guards were tangled with the public that went out of control with every passing moment. All the ministers still stood there with their bodies paralyzed and hearts pounding in their ears. It was the end of Harika Empire. The emperor was dead and next Emperor in line was accused of his father and late Emperor's murder. A neighboring kingdom was already planning an attack and tribal war was around the edge as well. This is what they call disaster. An end to one of the most ancient empires of the history.
"There's no coronation anymore. We're all rebels in the eyes of law. Let's pray for our Homeland and ourselves." That weak hearted minister spoke to his fellow again. He could feel his heart falling deeper in the pit of his stomach and looked around with disoriented eyes. His gaze landed on the crown prince who stood next to the empress while a desperate feeling adorned his face. He was trying to assure her something as the tears continued to fall from her eyes.
Someone pushed the minister harshly from the back as he landed on the ground with his face towards the floor. As if on que, a lot more ministers followed his lead and kissed the ground.
Before they could do anything to control the angry crowd another dreadful announcement was made out of nowhere.
"Adam is dead. Someone killed him in the imperial dungeon."
That helped break the last string of patience people had been holding onto. It was a complete chaos. For the people present there, it could only be Noah who got him killed because he had accepted that it was crown prince who ordered that assassination. So, if a case was to be filed against Adam, he'd have confessed crown prince's involvement and so Adam was wiped out of the way. How CRUEL.
While the Empress Mother watched all this with horror filled eyes, Prince Noah looked over the chaos as if it was all merely a play. His ministers were becoming a target of outrage but he was busy watching them with indifference. It was as if he was waiting for something.
He had perfectly spotted a certain minister standing in the corner unscathed and smirking at the destruction. Next moment his hand made a specific gesture that everyone failed to notice. In a matter of few seconds, that hall was filled with shadow guards who not only tackled all the rebels shortly but made them submit to the crown prince as well.
PEOPLE OUTSIDE the PALACE WERE TOLD THAT DAY THAT THE CROWN PRINCE FORCEFULLY TOOK OVER THE THRONE BY THREATENING THE LIVES OF ALL THE PEOPLE PRESENT AND THEIR FAMILIES.
SUCH A BRUTE.