"My Empress, I beg that you reconsider the Princess's exile!" Jerich pleaded as he knelt before his Empress. He had asked to help with the cleanup following the end pf the incident as the Princess and the others were escorted away by a personal guard. He had only found out after the fact of what had occurred in the Imperial Court. Even though he hadn't caused the princess harm directly, he felt that he had contributed to it in some way. Surely the princess should not have been held accountable for the actions of her servants!
"No, I am sorry to say, but that will not be happening," The Empress declined from behind her work desk. They were currently in her personal study and there was a guard to either side of Jerich. He had begged for a meeting with the Empress as soon as he had heard the news a week ago. It was only now that the Empress had time to humor his request.
"But your Majesty, is it not a little too much to hold her accountable for a bunch of brand new, not to mention untrained, slaves? Not only that, but the succession is now at risk!" Jerich pressed on in the hopes that his Empress could see his reasoning.
She looked at him with an arched brow before sighing," Tell me sir Jerich Ana Alice, have you been busy this past week? I'm sorry, but it is rather hard to keep up with everything that has been happening to the south and the politics of the Empire. Even when it comes to one of my finest knights."
"I am honored by your words as always. I am sorry to say it has been a bit busy for me as well. I had to go through some bureaucracy to remain here long enough for this meeting. They had wanted me in the front. When command got my request and noted that you had given a positive reply for the request, the decided to have me help out with training recruits. Quite a few in fact." The knight explained his current situation to his liege," In fact, I'll be here till the end of the month training before they plan to ship me south with them."
"I see, so that means you have been too busy to look over the records on what had occurred. The princess is not guilty by affiliation I'm afraid. My daughter actually had quite the active role in the mess. She was trying to earn their trust and created the situation that allowed the disaster to take place at all. She was the one that had an overpowered core place into a major prosthesis. She was also the one who had turned the power setting far too high. I should also mention that it has come to my attention that some like that should have been quite fatal. I have had to reject no less than seven proposals to have the goblin taken in for various studies. Most notable of which is that they wish to dissect the goblin. Sadly, this hasn't stopped them from placing orders for the capture of test subjects. Even worse, is that it has placed even more pressure to keep the war going. One, I might add, that I was against in the first place. I'm sorry to say Jerich, but my daughter was clearly out of line," The Empress went to lecture at length.
Jerich was silent for a moment as he considered the matter before he finally spoke again," I can understand some of it, but it is still a fact that you have all but guaranteed the fall of your house at this point."
Honoria smiled at her knight before answering," Why Jerich, I'm hurt. Do you have so little faith in my daughter?" The man jumped at this, the look on his face one of stunned confusion," My daughter may be away and under poor conditions all things considered, but I have faith in her... Something you should have someday. After all, I can't say any mother would approve of a man who wasn't faithful to their daughter," She teased the Knight and enjoyed the blush that took over his face.
Y-your Majesty! Please do not jest of such things!" He denied bashfully. The Empress had a good laugh at the man's face. She didn't care about the lack of pomp and composure. It was a private meeting regardless. She knew the man before her was likely to marry her daughter. The man has always had something of a crush on the poor girl. In all honesty, Honoria was hoping the two would just get together, but her daughter had many problems. Her inability to even talk to a man was bad enough.~ But her fear in the wake of...~ The Empress shook the memories of THE worst thing she had ever suffered through in her reign. The fact was that one of the outcomes had left her daughter afraid of men. This discovery came about when Jerich had tried to cheer up the poor girl and she fled from him in tears. It's been years and her daughter had managed to get her fear more under control, but the fear had remained all the same.
"Jerich, please compose yourself. I only jest. You need not worry about my daughter. I have faith that she'll persevere and prove herself to the nobility. She needs too if the Empire is to hold together," She tried to calm her knight. The man got himself back into a more composed state and gave a bow of apology for such a loss.
"It was quite the jest indeed Majesty. It is good to hear you have faith in your daughter, but my understanding is that you sent her on a hopeless task. The post was abandoned for a reason," Jerich pointed out.
"It is precisely that reason I assigned her the task. The girl needs more confidence in herself and a chance to win the others over. This task is the very type of miracle needed for her to someday take the throne," She replied to the earnest man. ~Not that I'm going to mention this was more of a gift to begin with. Whether anyone, my daughter included, realizes it or not, I have given her the choice of how she wishes to live her life. A freedom so few get. Either my daughter will pull through and prove herself, or I'll at least given her the tools to make a living for herself in whatever manner she desires.~
"I see, well then I seem to have been misguided in my appeal. However, I can't help but ask why you left her without proper guard," Jerich wondered.
"Without?" The Empress froze at this. She had been too busy to see her daughter off that day. She had wanted to, but there had been an emergency session called for on that day. However, she was certain that orders were drawn up and filed for a proper guard detail. Her daughter should have guarded even now.
"Why yes," Jerich seemed a little confused as a mounting fear started to take him," I saw her carriage leave that day and there was not a single guard escorting her. I would have seen to it myself, but well... You know how poorly that would have gone what with abandoning my post..."
She stood quickly at this muttering curses under her breath," Jerich. You have new orders. You are to form a group to guard my daughter and quickly. This order is to be effective immediately! Once the new guards are proper in place, you are to return to command and receive new orders. Now go!"
Once he heard the order, the man turned about and ran. Very few people had ever managed to earn the full extent of the Empress's fury.
As soon as the man left the room, the irate Empress turned to her guards," You two are to go and report that there has been a breach of security right this instance and I want an investigation started to find out who the traitor is that went against Imperial orders!"
The two women gave a quick and chopped bow at this before quickly vacating their ruler's presence in fear of gaining her clearly mounting ire. It was well deserved. Any mother would be furious to find their child's safety had been sabotaged. They did not envy whoever the fool was that enacted such a plan.
This left Honoria alone to contemplate the current situation. She feared that this was a sign of an unforeseen turning point of the Empire. The House of Winfield was at even more risk that she had previous though. She was going to have to rally more troops to guard Grace and herself. The biggest issue, at this moment though, was the matter of who was truly behind this. Sure, they were probably going to find something or someone/ Usually in the form of a scapegoat or a decoy. The worse option was if no evidence could be found. There were many secrets within her nation, but some of them had a tendency to come back from the shadows.