396: THE MEETING

THE MEETING

At first, Darius was just teasing her out of habit. However, Veronica took his joke too seriously which made him suspicious.2

'This is fun,' he thought. 'I should make fun of her a bit more.'

Just as he planned, he remarked. "Arthur said he punished you so much that you couldn't get up from bed in the morning."

Veronica was flabbergasted, just the way he expected.

"No… no way. Arthur would n-never speak such vulgar words." She was so nervous that she was stammering.

Darius grinned. "I got you, didn't I? You are the one who said you didn't like sex but I guess Arthur made you think otherwise- oww!"

He flinched when Zinnia slapped his head hard.

"Don't listen to the jerk. It's normal between couples. Nothing to hide or feel embarrassed about," she tried to ease flustered Veronica. "By the way, are you okay to train?

Veronica blushed furiously when she heard that question. "I'm fine! I can train."

"Are you sure though? You can take a rest if you want. I don't want Arthur showering his wrath on me because I made you train."

The more Zinnia showed concern, the more embarrassed she felt.

"I will make sure he doesn't do that," Veronica swore. "Let's start training."

---------

In the Royal Palace, Arthur was in the meeting room, listening to the aristocrats' ideas to settle down trafficking once and for all.

"As for the criminals, we have to make sure that they are publicly executed. This will give everyone a fair warning. No one will dare to join a guild like human trafficking."

Arthur chuckled. 'This is so stupid. I don't think I can handle this anymore.'

The Queen of Tybu raised her head. Other nobles shifted their gazes at Arthur.

The Queen faintly smiled before asking, "Is there something amusing, Master of the Magic Tower? If you remember a joke, why don't you share it with us? We could use some jokes to ease the atmosphere of the room."

In a room full of noblemen, the Queen was practically glowing. She was wearing a red-colored gown with a golden touch. Her head was decorated with several gold chains and many colorful jewels. The makeup in her eyes made her look fierce and elegant. Her red lips were smiling.

Arthur smirked. "You want to know the joke? Fine, I'll tell you. The biggest joke is when the criminals gather together, plan to execute their scapegoats. If someone sees the drama, how can they not laugh?"

The smile from the Queen's lips disappeared. "What do you mean?"

Arthur explained, "What I mean is commoners won't have the courage to make such a huge trafficking guild. They need support and money from someone with great influence. Only a person with high status and power such as aristocrats can do that.

"If nobles stick to their ideals, commoners won't have the courage to do something so horrible. So, if you truly want to end this problem, find out which aristocrats are behind this. The rest is history."

After he was done talking, the nobles' faces turned white. The meeting room became quiet. No one said anything including the Queen.

One of the nobles couldn't take it anymore and stood up. His chair fell upside down and made a huge noise in the process.

He didn't bother with the chair. He roared at Arthur, "Rubbish! Such arrogance in front of her Majesty the Queen! Even if you are the Master of the Magic Tower, you should hold your tongue."

Arthur didn't budge at his loud voice. He calmly stared at the guy. His golden orbs stared at the angry nobleman.

"It seems like some people forgot how things should be done in front of me."

The nobleman was rather young. He was twenty-three years old.

He heard about Arthur's cruelty but never met him before. When he saw him in the meeting room, he noticed how detached he was from the rest of the nobles.

Since Arthur dared to pick a fight with the aristocrats, he spoke up in order to steal the light. He wanted to be praised by everyone including the Queen for his bravery to stand up for the nobles.

The young nobleman was slightly intimidated by Arthur's cool gaze. He gulped in nervousness. But he didn't back down.

He hurled back, "Are you threatening me? Did you think I'd back away just because you are in power? You are abusing your power!"

Arthur arrogantly raised his chin. "When have I not used my power to tear off worthless shit?"

"Y-you….!" The young nobleman trembled. He wanted to retaliate but nothing came to his head.

Arthur scanned the room. No one dared to respond.

Even if they were dissatisfied with him, even if they were mad at him, even if they despised him, they said nothing.

Many of their children died in his hands because of their misdeeds.

However, they couldn't blame their children since they also thought what their children did was the correct thing to do.

To dominate the poor was a noble's duty.

Even so, they couldn't say anything to Arthur. They couldn't pick a fight with him.

They already lost one member of their families. They didn't want to lose the rest of them.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Everyone seemed pressured except for the queen.

Arthur spoke in an unhurried manner, "When I was first ordered to investigate the traffickers, no one came to assist me. It's not like I didn't need your help.

"I didn't mind. What I minded was that they were eliminated before I could get the words out of them. How did the enemy know about my target?

"I realized that someone put spies on my guards hoping to get all the information about my investigation. I didn't mind that either.

"However, now, you want to push your blame to someone else and keep doing whatever you want, how can I let that happen?"

His laid-back voice turned cold as he eyed the noblemen in front of him.

He recalled how Veronica was hurt because of the traffickers. He clenched his fist.

'I...

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