Derman grimaced, most nobles had dark secrets, and while he would have loved to punish thee guilty ones the moment he takes the throne, he was at their mercy right now, and he could do nothing except lay low and take actions when he had more power.
"What about the guards?"
"Bah! Once they saw that I cowed the three young nobles they immediately fell in line"
"And what are the families' demands?" he asked.
"Well, as much as you can expect, mostly the Wayers, along with four of the other families want high official positions commissioned by the crown in the military, and the ministries, with the argument that it is essential for the military to be controlled,"
Derman gritted his teeth, the military will fight back against this, they will fight back hard.
Angar continued, "The Delats though…well they want a queen, they want you to marry their only daughter, Gamella, and the rest of the families are backing them"
The Wayers wanted to squeeze him, control him from all sides and limit his influence in the military as well as in the court, as for the Delats, well, there was a lot to be gained by having a queen from one's own family, they could try to have her influence him in the bedchamber, or they could wait for her to have a child and then have him killed, that way their daughter will be queen regent and their grandson will be king, and they will become the new royal family in all but name, maybe they'll even go for it after his death, why not?
He had no choice, this was his own doing, and he must accept the consequences for his actions now, "Tell the Delats to make the necessary arrangements and prepare for the engagement, the coronation will come first though, this they will not take from me, as for the Wayers, tell them that I accept, and that we will arrange a meeting to further discuss the positions they want, we will try to slip some thorns to them between the flowers they demand"
"And thank you, Angar, for saving my ass again, honestly I don't know what I would do without your help" he said sincerely.
Angar simply nodded and turned to leave, but Derman stopped him before he did, "And send Hannam to me please, I want to talk to him about something"
He nodded again and left the room.
Roland Wayer sat opposite of an exceptionally ordinary looking man, indeed the man looked so ordinary that a person could see him a thousand times and still not think much of him, even Roland himself sometimes was tempted to underestimate him, however, every time he met with the man, he would struggle against his mind for what he wanted to say, if he did not know that it was not possible, he would have thought that the man was using magic on him.
The ordinary looking man's name was Kamal, and he was the empire's chief of spies in the kingdom, he had approached Roland two years ago with grand promises, promises that his family dreamed of for a long time, he promised them the throne, and asked of them for only one thing, that was to support prince Kalan, Roland agreed.
Right after they began to support Kalan though, the king started to get sick, Roland knew that it most definitely was the empire's doing, still, he had no love for the man, so he did not care, but what he did not understand was why they would kill the man now and take responsibility for his assassination when he was already dying, why would they start a war now?
"Because the late king was going to choose Derman as his successor, which is why we had him killed. What we did not expect was you being an incompetent fool who let Kalan get killed, didn't your laws forbid that? Something about blood of royals if my memory serves me right" He was surprised by the answer; he did not realize that he was speaking aloud.
Roland was outraged, he was the head of the richest family in the entire kingdom! A lowborn bastard like this had no right to address him that way! No one had the right to speak to him that way!
He stood up, deciding to have the man punished, he started "You-" But before he could finish, the other man interrupted him, "Oh sit down, or would like it if the new king finds out about your…treachery?"
Roland swallowed and reluctantly sat back down, "Y..you would not do that, if I go down then he will come hunting down for you as well!"
"of course, of course" the man smiled with no humor, "except that you are mistaken if you think that you are the only person we are dealing with in Amadal, if you fall, then maybe I will fall as well, but I am not the only one the empire has working in this shit hole you call a kingdom, if I fall the empire remains, and the empire is all that matters"
Roland was horrified, he was still indignant, but something in his mind told him to let go of his pride and submit, the only thing he could do right now is try to salvage what he could to protect the family, he could not allow it to fall.
The only way to insure that is by going through with the plan, Amadal would fall to the empire, and he will become the new king under the empire's rule.
"What do I need to do?"
"You already demanded high positions, right?"
"Yes" he answered, confused, "Should I tell them that I changed my mind?"
"No" The man replied, and with a smile, he ordered him on what to do.
Leaving the noble bastard with a his mouth hanging open, the man named Kamal left the room, he hated nobles, they were the reason why people suffered, they were the reason why this world was so twisted, but they were easy to handle, even though he previously was talking with confidence, he was actually shaking from the inside, he was only bluffing when he said that he was not the only one here.
In truth, he was the highest ranking one among the imperial spies posted in Amadal, and he was the one responsible for the whole operation, so if he fell, the whole plan fails, and just thinking about failing the emperor gave him a shiver, death would be much better than than.
Even though he hated nobles, he did not consider the emperor to be one of them, the emperor was different.