Chapter 32: The subtle art of manipulation.
Sigrid chose her words carefully, one; she made everyone aware that the king would rather go for a picnic than handle important matters of state. Two; she used Medoris because king Raff detested emperor Galathor of Medoris, after suffering one defeat at his hands when he intervened in the war between Eldoria and Nemoris, the kingdom to the south of Eldoria.
At the time, king Raff wanted to conquer Nemoris and expand Eldoria to the size of an empire. If he had won the war, he would be called emperor, not king and he would be remembered as a conqueror.
Raff Maximus wanted to go down in history as the greatest ruler Eldoria had ever seen. If Nemoris had not run to Medoris for help and become a tributary kingdom prompting Medoris to send their armies to defend it, Eldoria would have won the war.
To this day, it was like a fresh wound in Raff’s heart and Sigrid’s words were equal to salt being poured on that wound.
It worked to her advantage however, the king forgot all about the picnic, he wanted to beat Medoris even if it was just something as small as a marriage law.
While he had been thinking, the lords in the court had held their breath or whispered about Sigrid’s daring nature. How could she challenge the king so openly? Even if she was a crown princess, she needed to know her limits.
Many of them looked at duke Thorin, wondering what was going through his mind but the duke kept his eyes forward and his nose up as if he looked down on the rest of them.
His loyal followers in the court maintained the same attitude, looking like a group of proud unbothered peacocks.
Everybody waited to see what was to come, the queen and Lord Benwick were literally on the edges of their seats. Rina was seething, hoping that king Raff would order for Sigrid to be thrown into a dungeon for speaking out of turn.
"What did you say about standards?" the king asked Sigrid.
She bowed slightly, pretending to be respectful and polite. "That you the king should set the standards and others will follow. As long as you turn Eldoria into a paradise on earth, we will be the best empire on the continent, not Medoris."