The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 382: Restored

Chapter 382: Restored

Mineah watched in satisfaction as she saw her husband finally enter the throne room. Wearing his own crown, he looked like a real king compared to the pretender who hadn’t even managed to wear the crown yet. Truth be told, she was honestly getting a bit worried once she saw the crown about to be placed on Ahmed’s head, but thankfully, that was exactly when Nikolai burst through the door, ignoring all of the men who were conspicuously standing in front of it as if to stop people from entering.

"P-Proof? What proof?!" Ahmed scoffed back. "You’re merely an impostor! In fact, the queen herself confirmed your demise!"

Ah, that was her cue. Time to see this man start to collapse under his own hubris. "Actually, I lied," she chuckled as she stepped out into the open to stand by Nikolai’s side. "I’ve been in contact with my husband ever since the incident. He told me to keep pretending so that he could continue with his investigations."

To further cement her claim, she leaned in and gave Nikolai a deep and loving kiss. Her husband liked the daring move, and he even pulled her closer to him as if claiming her words to be true.

"W-What..."

"Indeed," Nikolai darkly chuckled, ignoring the stuttering Ahmed. "And I have everything I need to prove your wrongdoings right here."

Mineah raised a brow as she saw Nikolai fish out what looked to be a pearl from one of his pockets. It looked unassuming enough, but even she could tell that it was magical in nature.

"And what is that supposed to be?!" Ahmed incredulously asked. "Some random pearl?"

"It’s not just any pearl. In fact, this pearl holds key pieces of information to your demise," Nikolai smirked. "Let me show it to you all. Let’s witness the hubris of the man that attempted to become king far too early!"

At his declaration, he waved his hand over the pearl, and to Mineah’s surprise, a vision of what looked to be stored memories suddenly played itself onto the ceiling of the throne room. It almost looked identical to what her sister Xenia had, if she recalled, which meant that this was probably a memory of one of Ahmed’s many dealings.

[Where did you get that pearl?] she couldn’t help but ask him through their bond.

[I’ll explain later,] he cryptically replied. [For now, you should enjoy the show. I won’t let Ahmed get away with attempting to run this kingdom to the ground.]

Mineah simply chuckled as she let her husband take the proverbial stage. If he said she should just relax and enjoy the show, then she would do exactly that.

Watching all of the proceedings being projected onto the ceiling, she couldn’t help but both laugh and feel disgusted at all of the things Ahmed did to get to where he was now. From bribery to straight-up murder and blackmail, the minister had clearly done everything he could to claim the throne as his own. Clearly, he wouldn’t stop at simply claiming Valcrez. He was ambitious enough to go out on conquest and try to subjugate even their neighboring kingdoms.

"As you all can see, Minister Ahmed has been perpetuating his lies for a long time now," Nikolai scoffed as he let the visions play on repeat for the benefit of those in attendance. "He attempted to kill me, and he even unleashed a dark plague on his own kingdom to do it!"

"Lies! I would never do such a thing!" Ahmed insisted despite the crowd now firmly turning against him. "What is this evidence?! Where did you even get it?! How can we be so sure that it’s not fabricated?!"

"If it is all fake, then why are you so worried?" Nikolai smugly replied. "In addition, I also have the names of every member of your little coven. They will all be promptly arrested and executed. Although, I’m sure a good chunk of them are here with us right now. Maybe I’ll just start executing them right here and now."

A cold menacing aura seeped off of Nikolai, and Mineah couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction as some of Ahmed’s men began to bow deeply at Nikolai. They were all shouting out their apologies and deepest sympathies. Not that it would stop them from being punished.

"I’ll act as a witness!" one of them desperately exclaimed. "I was under duress, Your Majesty!"

"Me too!" another insisted. "Please spare us! We’ll give you everything we know!"

All the while, Ahmed could only watch as his plan disintegrated right before his eyes. She nodded and laughed at his face as more and more of his men began to surrender themselves to Nikolai, and some of the palace guards began to posture to her husband as they began to defer to him once more.

"Well, that is clearly all the evidence we need to convict you for all of the wrongs you’ve done to Valcrez," Nikolai darkly chuckled. "I would’ve just gone and punched your head in right here and now if it weren’t for due process, so you should be grateful that you’ll only be arrested for now."

"W-What?! No! I’m king!" Ahmed screamed as guards began to circle around him, the crown remaining on the throne as he tried to escape. "You can’t do this to me!"

"Unfortunately for you, we can," Nikolai firmly replied. "Guards!"

For a brief second, Ahmed almost looked like he was going to escape. Unfortunately for him, he was caught, and he was promptly taken away to the dungeons where he rightfully belonged. As for the others...

"As for you lot," Nikolai began, addressing the guilty witnesses. "You will all honor your word and stand witness against Ahmed. That doesn’t mean that you all will not be punished. You will all be sent to exile after all of this."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Mineah scoffed at the cowards thanking her husband. Well, at least they would live to see another day, unlike Ahmed who was most certainly dead.

And thus, normality was restored. Well, not yet, but she smiled as she saw Nikolai walking up to her. They were finally together once more, and while there were still some things they needed to clean up, they could finally do it together.

"I missed you," he stated.

"I missed you too," she replied with a smile.

Truly, they had a lot of catching up to do.

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