Mars heart dropped to the floor when he heard the king's order. He was demanded and pressured in front of all the most important men in the capital to do what his father asked him.

He must ascend the throne and he must also punish the people responsible for killing his mother. In this case, it was obvious that his father wanted him to 'hunt down' Emmelyn.

What King Jared said was true and everyone in the room agreed with him. It was time for the crown prince to take over power now that his father was old and in grief.

If the king was no longer interested in ruling, then, it was the crown prince's responsibility to manage the kingdom. And what the king said about punishing the queen's killer was also true.

Everyone in the room had heard about what happened and knew the main suspect was the woman that the prince had secretly married. It was one big mess.

"We hope Your Highness can lead our kingdom to a new height," said Lord Chambers with a very serious expression. "We from the Chambers clan will gladly help you and do whatever it is you need us to do, to ensure peace in this country."

One by one, the other lords and government high officials voiced their support. All of them really wanted to see a change in the monarchy. Many were tired of the old king.

"Your Majesty, you are still very healthy and sharp, I am sure you still have a long time on the throne. Our people love you and want to see you lead them," said Mars with great respect. "Please think about this again."

He was still trying to postpone the inevitable by negotiating. However, it looked like he was on the losing side.

The king shook his head, looking extremely tired. "No, I have thought about this for a week and I have made a decision to hand over power to you today. After Elara died, I don't want to do anything anymore. The people will suffer under an unwilling king. And you know how many people will fight over the throne if you will not take it."

Every single person in the throne room knew this too. Mars really had no choice. If he said no, then the throne would be fair game.

It was not just himself that he had to think about, but also the people he cared about. Especially the people of this kingdom.

Mars couldn't imagine the suffering that they would go through should there be a civil war. He must not be selfish.

The prince soon dropped to his knees and paid respect to his father. "I feel deeply honored and grateful for the trust that Your Majesty has bestowed upon me. I will do this job to the best of my ability."

"Good." King Jared waved and motioned his son to rise. "We will immediately hold the coronation ceremony and make it official. But today, I want us to hear what Captain Damien has to say in his reports."

He waved and a burly man in king's guard attire entered the throne room.

Captain Damien was the head of the king's guards group that accompanied Queen Elara and was supposed to protect her on the day she was killed. Mars already planned to talk to him so he could study the case more thoroughly.

Now, the man came to the palace on the king's order because King Jared wanted Mars to hear all facts.

"Damien, you have something to tell us?" King Jared asked the burly man.

"Your Majesty... I am very sorry for bringing bad news," Damien bowed down deeply to the king, and then turned to Mars and bowed to him too. "There is an update on the case. I just received the report from my men."

"What is it?" King Jared rose from his throne and looked at Damien sternly. "Tell us now."

"I am sorry, Your Highness... but your butler was found dead this morning, not far from your residence," Damien directed his report to Mars. "It looked like he was killed by someone he knew. He was beheaded and then stabbed multiple times. It shows that the murder is personal. Nothing was taken from his body. A servant said Roshan was leaving to visit his ailing older brother."

"Hm... he didn't say anything to me about visiting his older brother," Mars said. "Are you sure he said he was going to his village?"

"Yes, that's what he told a servant back in the castle."

"Can you investigate if his brother is really sick?" Mars asked Damien. "This sounds suspicious. Roshan would always consult me if he wanted to take leave and visit his family."

"I will do that, Your Highness," said Damien. The man looked hesitant about something and his expression showed it. So, the king decided to probe him.

"You seem trying to tell us something," said the king. "What is it?"

"Well..." Damien took a deep breath. "There was a word carved on his arm with a sword. It was 'TRAITOR'."

Everyone in the throne room exchanged glances and talked among themselves. This news was quite shocking and they all wanted to know more details.

"Wait... you mean, the killer carved the word 'TRAITOR' on him?" the king asked. "Is that right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"So, it IS personal. Who do you think was after him?"

"Three staff actually reported that a very suspicious man came to the castle several hours before Roshan left. He claimed to be the firewood vendor and came to ask for a payment, but a few servants this morning said the man might actually be a woman who disguised herself as a man. They only thought of it after Roshan was killed, and connected the dots."

Mars immediately knew where this was heading to. Emmelyn loved to disguise herself as a man, and when she was arrested, she was also wearing men's clothes.

"Are you saying that the killer might be Emmelyn?" Mars immediately asked Damien, his patience was running thin very quickly.

"Yes, Damien, tell us. Is that what happened?" The king asked too. "Is it the wench?"

Damien was a righteous officer. He didn't immediately accuse Emmelyn. The man shook his head. "To be honest, I don't know, Your Majesty. If we could find her, maybe we can know the truth. Right now, we only have some hearsay from the staff."

"Then, we must not judge one-sidedly," said Mars. He liked Damien's diplomatic answer. "I want you to investigate the murder and find the perpetrator."

"Will do, Your Highness."

The king looked impatient when he heard their exchange. He walked toward his son and touched his shoulders. His voice was cold and filled with hatred when he spoke. "You promise, before your mother, that you will punish her if she ever betrayed our family. Are young going to back down on your word?"

Mars was cornered. He did promise that to his father months ago, in front of his mother. He was so in love with Emmelyn and wanted his father to stop bothering her with his suspicions.

So, he promised King Jared that Mars would punish Emmelyn and uphold justice if Emmelyn really betrayed his family. He was very certain that Emmelyn would never do something like that.

But today's situation was much different from back then. Emmelyn was the main suspect for the queen's murder, she also faked her death to escape punishment and now... she possibly killed Roshan too for testifying against her?

.

----------

From the author:

Wow... I can't believe this is already the 400th chapter and we still haven't met the second male lead. This story really has a mind of its own.

I really, really want us to meet Maxim as soon as possible, but it won't let me... #sobs

Btw, if you like the story about Octavian Augustus and Tiberius I shared in the previous chapter, I actually read the whole thing on Wikipedia.

So, I read an article on Quora and decided to google Augustus, then I checked his Wikipedia page, ended up checking pages of people related to him... and fell down the rabbit hole... hehehe.

If you like such a story, I can recommend to you a book called "Woman" by Paul I. Wellman. It's about Dorathea, a poor little girl sold as a slave and then worked as a prostitute in Rome.

She was very smart and resilient. She worked her way up, until finally she could meet the emperor and attract him. Emperor Justinianus married her and made her his empress, despite so many oppositions he faced from the senate and other aristocratic families.

Dorathea became the force behind her husband's peaceful reign for decades. Justinianus was the emperor who contributed to our civilization by compiling the Roman codex which would become the basis of our modern law. He was also a good ruler for his people.

The book is very thicc and consisted of two volumes. Woman I and Woman II. But, I guess, now that you're used to reading long novels on this platform, reading that book should be an easy feat. ^^

PS: I wrote down about the book "Woman" based on memory, so I probably overlooked some facts. Just check the book if you want.