Chapter 72: Exposed Secrets.
The new debate was reaching its fourth hour.
Inside the Assembly Hall, words rang louder, and tension clung to every breath.
The seats of the noble houses were occupied now, some with entire families, others by proxies or favored champions.
Xavier’s faction was blunt, their speeches sharpened like war blades. Maximus’s side, in contrast, wielded subtlety—legalese, historical precedent, whispered obligations cloaked as reason.
It was politics at its most brutal.
Lan watched from the shadows of the upper balcony. Hooded, in a black-trimmed cloak, he passed easily for another minor heir or bored spectator. No one paid him any mind.
Good.
He could feel the currents shifting. The hall felt like a storm about to break—just thunderclouds now, but soon, something would crash through.
Below, a gray-bearded noble rose to speak. Baron Helquist of Eastvale, a longtime supporter of Xavier.
Now speaking after he had Challenged one of Maximus’s support.
"We support Crown Prince Xavier not merely because he is the strongest mage of his generation, not because of military feats alone—but because this Empire cannot be led by secrets and shadows," Helquist intoned. "We need strength. Clarity. Not whispers in dark corners."
It was a dig at Maximus, of course.