The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 261: Someone New

Chapter 261: Someone New

Abel felt his annoyance rising at what he just heard. While he didn’t mind Taro not being present, the fact that the reason for it was the fact that the man was getting to be wed just didn’t sit right with him. Sure, he was happy for the man, but for him to have such a convenient excuse to not be present while he himself had to be the one to arrange the flow of the trial kind of made him feel overworked.

He had his own wedding to deal with too! Why was he the one saddled with taking care of both the trial and the clean up of the whole thing?!

"You do realize that I have my own wedding to plan, right?" Abel pointed out.

"Well, clearly it’s going smoothly since you’re still here," Fritz chuckled as he teased. "Unlike Taro and his sudden marking of his now-fiancee, you’re still relatively free to do whatever you want."

Abel wanted to speak out against such an assumption, but he couldn’t help but concede to that fact. While there was still much more to be done, his own wedding plans were proceeding smoothly. And while his own wedding just got superseded by Taro’s whirlwind wedding, he at least had some preparation for it unlike the other man himself.

"I’m still a bit miffed that his wedding’s going to happen before mine," Abel shrugged. "But I’ll give that to him. At least I don’t have to deal with the Queen’s wrath due to prematurely marking one of her precious ladies-in-waiting."

"That’s just called being smart," Fritz stated with a chuckle. "You had the opportunity to go through the proper means of courting one of her ladies. Meanwhile, Taro just went and marked one of them without even so much as a warning."

"They both got swept up by their emotions, I suppose," Abel muttered. "I don’t blame them, but it’s still stupid."

"Right? It’s much better to do things properly to avoid the headache of stepping over other people’s toes," Fritz readily agreed.

"I just wish he stayed for longer though," Abel sighed. "I’m sure he would’ve helped me. He could’ve even run this trial without question unlike you, you lazy bum."

"Hey, I was the one that made all this possible," Fritz rebutted. "And besides, who else is going to do what you did just now for this trial other than you?" He smirked as he raised his arms in supposed defeat. "I sure wouldn’t. I’m not trained for that kind of stuff."

Abel simply shook his head as he shrugged. He knew that Fritz was more than capable of doing what he just did for the King. The man was just too lazy and adept at dodging his duties whenever it wasn’t too pressing. Although... there might be a way to saddle the man with more work that would both make him busy enough to be miserable and unable to dodge said work. He just knew he’d enjoy seeing the spy in that kind of situation.

"Say, with the Minister of Justice now vacant, why not take the position yourself?" Abel casually suggested, even waving his hand nonchalantly as if to emphasize the supposed opportunity. "You’re not doing much out there in the field anyway. You can still be a spy while still holding the position too."

"Are you kidding me? You want me to die of boredom in the palace?" Fritz quickly scoffed, his denial and disgust apparent in his tone. "Let someone else take the position."

"Like who? Taro?" Abel joked.

"If His Majesty wanted the man to take the job? Then sure," Fritz shrugged. "I highly doubt Taro would be up to the task though. He’s not the most... personable of them all."

Again, Abel conceded to Fritz’s observations. Say what they could about Haman, but the man at least knew how to do his duties as a Minister of Justice properly. Well, as properly as a crooked criminal would go ahead with it. He was approachable enough for the public to know him, and he had enough connections to truly ensure that his power was properly projected to the places that he needed it to be.

Again, it was only too bad that he was far too evil for anyone’s tastes.

"He’s also a part of His Majesty’s personal shadow knights," Abel pointed out. "So I guess he’s out of the running."

"Why not someone new then?" Fritz casually suggested. "It’ll do some good for the ruling structure to have some fresh blood in it from time to time, after all."

Abel hummed in thought at that. As Chancellor, he was just below the King in terms of power, which also meant that he was in charge of filling in whatever vacant positions there were in the ministries should it be present and the King couldn’t be bothered to do it himself. And seeing as the King hasn’t said anything yet, he might as well pre-empt and take the initiative to shortlist some candidates.

Although, from what he recalled, there weren’t a lot of people that could be qualified for the job. He could try and find someone he knew to fill the position, but maybe there was some merit to taking in a fresh face to give the Ministry of Justice an equally fresh start.

"I suppose I can take that into account," Abel thought aloud. "The Civil Service Exams are being rushed for this season, if I recall."

"You’ll be taking your candidates from there then?"

"You just said that we can get someone new, so where else should I look for viable candidates other than the exam passers this season?" Abel scoffed at Fritz’s question. "I’ll see the results myself and pick a few candidates. Maybe the top ten?"

"Try top five," Fritz suggested. "If we’re getting someone new, we should at least get the best of the best."

Abel mentally took note of such a suggestion, and he was about to start thinking aloud some more when he remembered that he still had to at least finish the clean up. Well, despite all of this work, he at least got something out of all of this.

He had decided what to do with the vacant position of Minister of Justice. Whoever the next minister would be, they would have to at least be a part of the top five of this season’s Civil Service Exam passers. Even better, maybe he’ll just pick the number one and be done with it.