2024-08-23 15:07:01
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Chapter 782
It was a quarter to sunset.The bank back office was crowded: Merriwether, Fennick, four police, a clerk, and Richie by the vault stairs.Merriwether took a mug from Richie's desk and kept it on his bag."That's my mug," Richie said faintly."It's the Crown's mug now, Mr. Moss. Four hours, I said," Merriwether remarked. "You've wasted three of them, Mr. Moss.""I've been reading the statute," Richie said."Read faster."Alexander offered a slow, deliberate yawn. "Spare me the riddles and just explain it.""Why would I do that?" Merriwether said."Because I don't read very well," Alexander said. "I'm still learning. I'd like to hear it."The clerk stifled a laugh.Merriwether sighed, opened his folder, and found the page."By this instrument," he read, bored, "the island of Harland, and all waters within its boundary, pass to the governorship and autonomous administration of His Highness Prince Alexander of Leonhart, to be governed at his discretion, without interference from any minis
Chapter 781
It was past midnight.Steward Aldous Danoe had come to the east wing himself, knocked once on the door and said only, "His Majesty will see you now.""No guards?" Alexander had asked on the way."His Majesty prefers not, at this hour."Now, in the small study, Alexander stood in the middle of the rug and waited."Cure her."The Emperor did not look up. The pen did not stop moving."Cure the Second Queen, Alexander. Tonight, tomorrow, whenever you like. But cure her."Alex turned silence.His father finally put the pen down. “Sit.”Up close, without the grey powder, Maximillian Leonhart looked exactly what he was: a man who had never been sick a day in ten years."You're staring," the Emperor said."Your colour is better, Your Majesty.""Is it?""Much better. For a man who was vomiting blood four hours ago."The Emperor's mouth moved. It was not quite a smile."A miracle," he said. "Our ancestor is very forgiving.""Very.""Danoe. Tea.""Yes, Your Majesty.""Here is my problem," the Em
Chapter 780
Alexander stepped forward."Father. If the crown prince is allowed to choose my place from outside the table," he said, "then may I choose his place from outside the table too?"The Emperor looked at him, and something in the old face was very interested."As long as it's a county," he said. "Empty. Heritable. And poor. Then yes, you may."..."There's a place called Martydom," Alexander said.The room was quiet."The last counts there were two old brothers. They both died without an heir, and the land went back to the Crown, and as far as I know nobody's lived in the house since." He looked at the crown prince. "I heard it's empty. I think the crown prince could live there."The Emperor frowned."Martydom. I've never heard of it." He lifted a hand toward the gallery. "Prime Minister. Is that name on our records? Find it."...The Prime Minister came down from behind the rail with a tablet in his hand and his reading glasses on, and the whole room waited while he scrolled."Yes, Your
Chapter 779
"Father."The crown prince did not touch the cards. He stood over the table with both hands at his sides and looked at the Emperor instead."Is this really necessary?" His voice was careful now. "I have been the crown prince for twenty-two years. I've sat on your council. I've represented you in meetings you couldn't attend. Haven't I already proved I can do this?""Father." That was the Second Prince, narrow and pale at the far end of the table. "Why not simply choose? Name one of us, here, now. Say whose name you want on the throne." He spread his hands. "I promise you, none of us will hold it against you.""Yes, Father." The Third Prince was a heavy man in his early thirties with a banker's haircut and a signet ring he kept turning. "And forgive me, but think about what you're asking. If I hand over every company I have and then I lose — I've lost everything. Isn't that too much to risk?""My children."The Emperor said it gently, the way you speak to people who have said something
Chapter 778
They kept him in the palace for three days.Nobody called it that. He had a suite in the east wing with a sitting room and a view of the gardens, and a man outside the door in a grey uniform who was extremely polite about the fact that the door was not going to open.Alexander spent the three days at the window, watching the Empire being taken apart and put back together.It was the largest purge in a century, and on the outside it barely made a sound.The state broadcaster ran it as a reshuffle. Forty-one ministers had been found wanting in their duties.They had been thanked for their service and replaced.There were photographs of the new men being sworn in, with good suits and grave faces, and a short statement from the palace about renewal and efficiency.That was all the public got.Inside the palace, nobody was
Chapter 777
There is a story they tell in the villages of the south, about the most romantic couple anybody ever knew.They had been married fifty-five years.Everybody in the district knew them. They walked to anywhere arm in arm, they sat on the same bench outside the bakery every morning, and when the regional paper wanted a feature on lasting love, it was always their door the reporter knocked on.And every time, the wife said the same thing."We're a happy couple. My husband is so kind to me. Fifty-five years, and he has never once raised his voice. He helps me with everything. Always romantic." She would put her hand over his on the table."And if there's an afterlife, I'll marry him again. I want to be his wife there too."The husband never said anything.He only sat beside her, and smiled, and nodded.The reporter came back the next day, and the wife had gone into town for the market, and the old man was sitting on the bench by himself.The reporter sat down next to him with his notebook.
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