"Your Majesty, we ask you...!"
"The First Prince is too much!"
"Such irresponsibility!"
"How can we trust the royal family if this is how they treat Lady Louise for a mistress?!"
"A commoner with no experience instead of a noble with royal training as queen? How absurd!"
"This is an insult to daughters of nobility."
"Lady Louisa was in her rights as a Royal Fiancee!"
"Royal Fiancees can eliminate unworthy mistresses!"
"The First Prince has insulted..."
"...controls most of the trading ports of the kingdom... If merchants retaliated to what was done to..."
"Lady Louisa was a figurehead! What retaliation?
"...may love his mistress now, but he will grow tired of her considering they have no foundational structure to the relationship."
"Love at first sight, how romantic~"
"What true love? A prince who abandons his fiancee for a woman he just met is unworthy of any daughters of the country even commoners."
"Lady Louisa was quite harsh. Making Miss Wendy transfer from a common maid to a lady's maid. And her own maid no less, as to limit her freedom so she won't see the prince.
"...was quite naive for thinking she could be just a princess by marriage and no training for the role of being queen."
"Your Majesty, should promote Second Prince–"
"ENOUGH!!!"
The throne room quickly quieted as her voice thundered through the crowd.
"I have already decided on a suitable arrangement. As the First Prince was the initiator of infidelity with the charges of slavery and kidnapping, he and any of his subsequent descendants will have no claims on any lineage of the throne."
"Furthermore, his own wealth have been added into the royal treasury. On the peak of his youth around his 30s, his genitalia can be cut off if he has remained as he is without any positive change whatsoever."
Her Majesty looked to the crowd with her stern, aged face.
The faces of the men in the crowd had a whitened pallor after her Majesty had finished talking. The women, however, held an interested look as they looked at the opposite sex.
"Mother, your blood pressure...!"
Attention shifted as the Second Prince ran to Her Majesty in concern for her health. The Second Prince resembled his mother the most, but his brother is who she looked after. His mother just looked at him and sighed. "I was at fault for being unclear with my other son. The title of Crown Heir is given to the most capable, unlike other successions. A shame, Lady Louisa could have been your wife, instead of your sister-in-law, hadn't I hope for both of you to have equal footing." She said the last sentence in a whisper.
"Due to the elimination of his brother's eligibility, the Second Prince is now the Crown Heir."
Gasps were quickly silenced as Her Majesty removed one of jewelry on her wrist, they enlarged enough to fit someone's head. A circlet. The temporary symbol of the Crown Heir until their coronation. She gave one last sigh and stood up facing her son.
The Second Prince looked at his mother in astonishment. He never saw her look at him with such emotion. Yet now he is the Crown Heir?! He knew how much she favoured his brother, having been born from her love. Even if that love is one sided on her part.
She looked at him tiredly and placed the circlet on his head. "The Crown Heir is now William Howard Le Imperie. May you
flourish and prosper into your crown."
The crowd followed her speech, "May you flourish and prosper into your crown!"