The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 366: Acting Skills

The plague was already in full swing when King Ezekiel sent healers from Ebodia to try and stop the spread of infection. Mineah had asked for their help not long after everything seemingly went down the drain, and her brother swiftly responded by throwing the might of Ebodia’s healers and mages to try and come up with a cure.

It wasn’t much, but it was the best Mineah could hope for as she led the search for Nikolai and the help to see the infected they could still save.

"We’re here," one of her men stated as they all arrived at the ruined province where everything seemingly started. "This was where King Nikolai was last seen."

"Alright. Let’s start the search," she firmly stated, her arms outstretched as she gestured to all of the people behind her. "Make sure to keep yourself protected. We can’t lose any more men trying to come up with something to stop this disease from spreading."

At her command, both the Valcrezian and Ebodian healers went to work trying to investigate what happened to the city. The buildings were all abandoned, and what few people who still lived there were eager to accept their help as they let them all in for their investigation.

Of course, this was all a farce. Mineah already knew what was wrong. In fact, she disapproved of the waste of resources they were doing just to keep up appearances for Nikolai’s search. But it still had to be done because she wanted to save innocent lives that were affected because of this propaganda Ahmed cooked. Also, if she simply remained idle while waiting for things to resolve themselves, then whatever plan Nikolai had would never have the time it needed to come to fruition.

"Any news regarding King Nikolai, Your Majesty?"

"Nothing so far," Mineah replied as she addressed Minister Ahmed who was present there for an obvious reason. "We’re slowly making out way to the ruined capitol building. It won’t be for a while until we get some kind of confirmation."

She did her best to look strained even as she felt bored by what was happening. Sure, the carnage in front of her was harrowing, but she already knew that before coming there. There were barely any people left there to help anyway. There was no use mourning for the dead when there was still work to be had to stop even more people from joining the departed.

"We’ll speed up the search then," Ahmed offered. "We can redirect some of the men to try and dig through all of the rubble. Maybe then we’ll find something."

"That would be much appreciated," she nodded, making sure to keep herself looking distraught for the audience. "Though make sure that all the efforts to help the civilians remain as high as they are now."

The minister simply nodded, and again, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed with him especially when she had already made sure that he had no ill will towards them by reading his thoughts. Something was off, but it was something that she had to put behind for now if only to keep herself on track of everything that had to be done.

Slowly, they made steady work of everything that had to be done. They helped those in need, and they cleared some of the roads if only to make things go by quicker and allow those trapped within the city to leave with them. Eventually, they arrived in front of the ruined capitol building, and Mineah ordered for the entire sight to be surveyed and cordoned off from the public. For a while, nothing of importance was found through all of the digging. But eventually...

"Your Majesty."

Mineah blinked as she heard one of the men call out to her. She already expected something like this to happen, but she didn’t think it would be this quick. "What is it?"

"We found this somewhere near the foundations of the building," the man replied, in his hands a piece of tattered cloth with some blood stains on it. "This might be a clue..."

She stared at the tattered cloth being presented to her. Immediately, she knew that this was Nikolai’s but it was far from definitive proof that her husband was dead. If their enemies were smart enough, they would probably rule out the possibility of his survival until better proof was found. However, she didn’t need that to happen.

So instead, she started crying.

"This is... This is Nikolai’s..."

Clutching to cloth close to her chest, Mineah dug deep into her acting skills as she let her tears spring forth from her eyes. She let out a desperate scream of despair, one that would signal to all who might be watching her that she genuinely thought that her husband was dead.

"Your Majesty?" Ahmed curiously asked.

"No! It can’t be!" she screamed, her eyes wide as she stepped away. "He can’t be dead!"

For added drama, Mineah then decided to run away, making sure to put enough distance away from them all before promptly ducking into an empty alleyway.

"Right, this should be far enough..."

Letting out a scoff, she then allowed herself to collapse onto the floor, faking exhaustion as she clutched at the tattered cloth that symbolized her husband. For added believability, she actually let herself sleep, seeing as the rigors of travel actually got to her.

After all, if she was going to be going for an acting award, she might as well get some rest in.

*****

Ahmed chased after Mineah as she sprinted deep into the abandoned city. All the while, he couldn’t help but feel joy at seeing a plan going exactly as he wanted it. Obviously, the queen was still in denial, which meant he could now try to worm his way into her heart in an attempt to soothe her aching heart.

"Your Majesty, it’s me..."

Arriving at her unconscious body, she had clearly passed out from exhaustion as she clutched at the tattered cloth in her hands.

"Hmm... Continue the search," Sage ordered from behind him, having followed behind him with some of the men. "And make sure the area is safe."

Ahmed smirked even as he gingerly carried Mineah’s unconscious body in his arms. Giving his mother a look, they couldn’t help but feel vindicated at seeing their queen confirm their good work.

Obviously, the king was confirmed dead, which meant that he now had a chance to woo the grieving queen to his side.