The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 316: One Step at a Time

Chapter 316: One Step at a Time

The days passed by with Mineah slowly getting busier than ever with her duties as a Queen, all while closely monitoring the plans Nikolai and Ezekiel were conducting to infiltrate Helion Castle. Both men were determined to execute the task as soon as possible, and they were planning to do it as soon as Ezekiel’s coronation as the new king of Ebodia was over.

As with all operations of this kind, it was crucial that not even Xenia and their parents would be aware of what was happening. It was all only going to be known by Nikolai and Ezekiel, and while Nikolai had his own purpose in helping Ezekiel aside from the fact that he wanted Vulcan to be extracted from Ezekiel’s body, he was still committed to doing exactly that. It just so happened that doing so would help her resolve her curse along with potentially removing the dagger from her body permanently.

Back to the matter at hand, Mineah was currently seated in the throne room. Today was an important event, and she had to be present to see it happen.

"I, Nikolai Ichor, hereby appoint you, Raul Ichor, from today onwards, as the new Minister of Defence," Nikolai declared as he stood before Raul kneeling before him. "Vow to uphold the law of our Kingdom, and make sure to lead and use our military powers not for your personal gain, but for the rightful purpose of ensuring the safety of our kingdom at all costs."

"I vow to perform my duties well, Your Majesty," Raul solemnly stated. "I will use military power given to me not for personal gain, but for the Kingdom’s benefit as a whole."

Wordlessly, Nikolai turned to Ezme beside her and gave her a nod. From there, Ezme stood up to surrender the military’s seal to Nikolai.

"Accept this, the Valcrez Military Seal that I’m handing over to you," Nikolai authoritatively said. "This is proof that your new station is truly yours."

With his head still bowed down, Raul offered his palm up to Nikolai. The latter then placed the golden seal with the carved image of a soaring vulture on it onto the former’s waiting hands. From there, Raul slowly got back up on his feet, raising the seal for all to see what it represented.

"Pay respect to your new Minister of Defence!" Nikolai declared.

"Congratulations, Your Highness, Minister Raul Ichor!"

Everyone present in the throne hall courteously cheered at the new appointee. All the while, Mineah smiled as she read Raul’s thoughts. He was genuine with his words, and she was sure that he would do a good job in his new post, which she was sure that her dear husband would be happy and delighted to hear once she told him everything about it.

Thinking about it now though, it came as a surprise to her that Raul was currently changing his perspective on things. Apparently, his sessions with Zaila regarding psychiatric treatment for his trauma were helping him along nicely, and being with Niran made a great impact on his life as well. All in all, she was really glad with how things turned out for them.

With the event now over, Nikolai soon dismissed everyone inside the throne room with Raul and Ezme remaining. Likewise, Mineah got up from her seat and stood beside Nikolai as she greeted Raul.

"Congratulations," she sincerely stated.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Raul replied with a smile. He then added, "If it isn’t too much of a bother, my wife prepared a simple gathering in my residence in celebration. I hope you can join us there later."

"Of course, we will," Mineah answered with a smile.

"What’s this?" Ezme scoffed with a pout. "How come you’re not asking me to come?"

"Only the Queen Mother only knew about it before," Raul replied. "I was sure she’d bring you with her regardless."

Ezme’s face soured. "Still, you should’ve invited me personally," she complained. "I just handed over my seal to you, and for your information, if not for me agreeing with Brother Nikolai to let you have it, do you really think you could’ve easily gotten my position?"

"Fine, do you want me to return it to you then?" Raul scoffed back. "Here... I don’t even want it that badly."

"You two stop this already," Nikolai scolded the two. "We’re not children anymore. It’s unbecoming for either of you to argue like this."

Watching from the sidelines, Mineah did her best to stop herself from laughing. Who would have thought that these siblings before her were all hundreds-year-old vampires when they were still acting so childish like this?

"Fine then. I’ll let things slide for now," Ezme sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I still think he should’ve invited me personally though."

"In fairness, I do admit that I should’ve done that as well," Raul shrugged. "What’s done is done, however. Instead, let’s focus on the future and what that entails for us. And right now, that future involves all of us in celebration of this wondrous event."

"Agreed," Nikolai sagely nodded.

With that, Mineah silently followed the group as they all made their way to Raul’s residence. There, she was immediately greeted by an amazing combination of aromas and her attention was quickly taken to the dining room.

[Mine, I know that look,] Nikolai scolded her with a teasing tone. [We shouldn’t eat before everyone else.]

[I know,] she sighed even as she gave the direction of the scents a longing look. [Still, I hope we get to eat sooner rather than later.]

[You can always excuse yourself into the dining room if you want to, Mine,] her husband suggested to her. [That’s assuming you don’t want to spend time with the others, of course.]

Mineah inwardly sighed as she shook her head. Doing so would just look like she didn’t care about anything else other than herself. It would also look bad on her if she was the lone person eating her way through the catering instead of actually taking part in the celebrations first.

[Later then,] she mentally shrugged. [I’m sure Niran had something cooked up for me later anyway.] She was having this inner struggle inside of her that eating somehow helped her think rationally about many things bugging her head.

With her attention now back on the celebration itself, Mineah blinked as she took note of everyone in attendance. As was expected, the Queen Mother also arrived to congratulate Raul along with a few other guests who were close to the new Minister of Defence. Ezme was understandably with them, and some of her shadow maidens also came in attendance as was expected of them.

In truth, it almost felt all too familiar as she allowed herself to enjoy the festivities. Raul was all too eager to announce his new position with Niran standing beside him, and she and the rest of the crowd gave them token applause as they all showed respect to him as the host of the celebration. Even now as she nursed the complimentary glass of wine she was given, Mineah couldn’t help but feel a touch of deja vu as she found herself merely observing everything around her instead of actually taking part in the celebration.

"Is there something wrong, Mine," Nikolai suddenly asked her, taking her out of her thoughts as she turned to look up at him. "You were spacing out in the middle of a celebration."

"O-Oh... I was just thinking about things," she meekly smiled as she swirled the wine in her glass. "I suppose so. It just feels... idyllic, in a sense," she admitted. "Almost like nothing bad would ever go wrong anymore."

"There might be some truth to that," Nikolai hummed as he stood by her side of the party. "We’re all doing our best to make things right. Faulty officials are being replaced left and right, and with Devon in our sights, I’m sure it won’t be long until every obstacle in our path to peace will be gone."

Mineah smiled at that. "All that’s left is for us to have someone to call our own," she absently replied. "Once everything’s settled, maybe then I can give you an heir..." Right, she wanted to always stay positive about having a baby.

"Mine, there’s no rushing things here," Nikolai reassured her as he smiled warmly at her. "We’re taking things one step at a time. Sooner or later, we’ll get there, and it’ll be glorious. For now, though, you should enjoy yourself. I think the dinner spread is finally being opened."

Mineah smiled at her husband’s encouraging words. "I’d like that, thank you," she giggled. "And thanks for setting things right... I didn’t know why I was letting my thoughts wander like that in an event like this."

"It’s the least I can do," Nikolai gave her a knowing nod before extending his hand out to her. "Anyway, let’s celebrate in earnest. I’m sure our friends are already wondering why we’re being passive."

With a smile, Mineah accepted his hand and let him lead her back into the party itself. Maybe she was just overthinking things knowing how rocky the road would still be ahead of her and Nikolai. She must remain optimistic and strong...