The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 349: Keep An Eye

Mineah let out a heavy sigh the moment the portal before her disappeared. Her mother, together with wizard Lurio, already took Ezekiel back to Ebodia with them. And with them gone, she could only shake her head before quickly leaving the chamber where her brother once stayed.

Thinking about it now, she was honestly worried about her brother’s constant stoic expression. For some reason, she had a feeling that Ezekiel would make a drastic move some time down the line. That was what he usually did whenever he went silent too. His expressionless reactions spelled danger no matter how much she tried to think otherwise...

...Or perhaps she was just overthinking what she saw from him. Maybe he’d actually be sensible and let himself rest before doing anything drastic.

’I should really try to trust him more,’ she jokingly chided herself. ’He’s smart enough to do the right thing.’

Shaking her head once more, Mineah faintly smiled to herself as she walked through the hallways on her way back to Corvus Palace. She didn’t want to leave her husband alone even for a second, but she had to in order to see her mother and explain to her the whole situation. She also wanted to see Ezekiel to update him about Tarah, so it was the most sensible thing to do.

Casually humming to herself, Mineah strolled through the hallways alone as she let her eyes wander. It was then that her eyes caught sight of a particular area in the southern wing. It would seem that there was a reconstruction effort going on in that part of the castle.

"Your Majesty, good afternoon."

Mineah blinked as she turned her head in the direction of the greeting. To her surprise, Minister Ahmed was there politely greeting her with a curt bow. He was also with a few officers who also did the same.

"Good afternoon, Minister Amed," Mineah curtly replied back. "I didn’t expect to see you here."

"I was on my way to conduct business, Your Majesty," Amed politely replied. "It’s not too urgent, however. If you would permit it, perhaps we could have a small chat?"

She narrowed her eyes at the man before him. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that he had an ulterior motive for asking her to have a talk with him. Still, she shouldn’t be too suspicious of everyone that was trying to have some alone time with her.

"I don’t see why not," she faintly smiled at him. "We have a bit of time."

"Splendid."

With a smile, Amed quickly dismissed the officers currently tailing him. Mineah simply watched as they all walked past her, all of them giving her a nod and bow of deference before disappearing off to their respective posts.

"Thank you for the opportunity, Your Majesty," Amed sincerely thanked. "I understand that you’ve been quite busy recently, especially with King Nikolai still conducting business elsewhere."

"That, I am," Mineah hummed. "It’s a decent amount of work, but I’ll manage."

"Still, perhaps you might need some assistance regarding some fields that you are being forced to handle during his absence," Amed added with a soft smile. "If you wish, I can help you with them, assuming that you need it of me, of course."

"Thank you, but I’m doing adequately on my own for now," she curtly replied. "Still, I appreciate the offer."

Amed simply smiled at her before giving her another curt nod, and Mineah could immediately tell that he was saying something that he wasn’t outright speaking out loud. Or perhaps she was overthinking things again?

Either way, she wouldn’t stop until she was sure of what this man wanted from her.

"If I may, can I ask you another question, Your Majesty?"

Mineah raised a brow at Amed’s question. "You don’t need to ask for permission to ask me a question, Minister Amed."

"Ah, then allow me to ask it then," he chuckled before clearing his throat to speak. "Is there any news regarding King Nikolai’s return? He has been gone for a not so insignificant amount of time now, and his subjects might grow to question why they haven’t seen their king for days at a time."

Mineah mentally pursed her lips as she quickly tried to come up with ways to answer his question. While it was true that Nikolai had been gone for a considerable amount of time now, it couldn’t be helped since he was still unconscious.

"He’s still in Ebodia discussing private matters with my brother. If they were lucky, they’d be finished before the day was over. But since they were dealing with delicate matters, they would probably take a few days at most to hash things out and come to a conclusion that would satisfy all parties. He’ll be back soon once his business has been concluded," she vaguely replied with as much of a professional tone as she could muster. "All I can say is that it is a matter of national security, and His Majesty will be doing his best to make sure that Valcrez will come out with a good deal."

"As expected of His Majesty," Amed hummed in approval. "It is good that he’s taking things very seriously when it comes to the kingdom’s affairs."

While Mineah nodded back at his words, somehow, she couldn’t help but feel like Amed was being sarcastic with his words. That somehow, he was insinuating that Nikolai wasn’t doing his job properly simply because he was taking his time with his discussion with Ebodia.

"We are blessed to have an industrious king to lead us," she sincerely added even as her mind began to run through his words to see if he was indeed being two-faced with his statements. "King Nikolai is a good and just leader. Surely, he’d be back as soon as his business is concluded."

"We can only hope, Your Majesty."

She blinked at his statement. That didn’t sound right to her at all.

Narrowing her eyes, she took a small breath before deciding that enough was enough. She was going to get her answers one way or another, and if it meant having to read this man’s mind, then she was going to do exactly that.

"Say, do you know what the construction efforts here are for?" Mineah carefully asked.

"I’m afraid I don’t have the exact specifics to that question, Your Majesty," Amed admitted. "Perhaps it’s part of the castle renovations or yearly maintenance."

"I see..."

While this was happening, Mineah looked Amed right in the eyes, looking to see if her hunch about his intentions was correct.

’Ah, Her Majesty is truly so radiant... If only she wasn’t married, then perhaps I could’ve had a chance to be with her. Alas, there’s no way that she’d leave King Nikolai now, so I should just try and help her as best I can.’

She blinked at what she saw. Surprisingly, his thoughts weren’t that bad. In fact, she almost felt touched that he thought of her that way. However, there was something in what she just heard that still scratched at her suspicions. But without any proof other than what she saw, there was nothing for her to do other than chalk it up to her base paranoia.

"Well, I sincerely hope that it turns out alright," she faintly smiled as she turned her gaze back to the construction efforts. "If anything, I wish it comes out just as amazing as the rest of the castle."

"I’m sure it will turn out exactly like that, Your Majesty," Ahmed reassured her. "This castle has been around since the dawn of the kingdom, and nothing much has changed beyond those that its previous rulers wanted changed."

Mineah nodded in acknowledgment. If that was the case, perhaps she could try asking Nikolai to add more changes to the castle. Nothing too drastic, but something that could be both useful and would add more beauty to the already impressive castle.

"Actually, maybe I’ll talk to the king about adding a new wing or two if we can afford it," she absently thought aloud.

"That’s certainly an idea, Your Majesty," Amed smiled. "I can accompany you to see if I can convince His Majesty about your proposals once they’re ready."

"I would appreciate it, Minister Amed." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

With a small smile, Mineah humored the minister with a bit more small talk before they inevitably had to part ways. Somehow, she found herself being suspicious of him despite how genuine he seemed. He was a bit too forward with her at times, but other than that, his thoughts didn’t portray him as something other than a minister who was too eager to please her. Yet... there was something in him that bothered her but she just couldn’t exactly point out what.

Still, even as she returned to making her way back to her room, she couldn’t help but feel like she just missed something important.

Ah well... If her paranoia was being insistent, then she’d just have to keep an eye on the man.