Pardon
"Then everyone should hold on to their stone until the truth is revealed. It will not be fair if the stones got mixed up when we hand them over to you," The Queen said looking at the priest.
She was not stupid, she knew that the prince was up to something the moment he asked that they return the stones. In the scroll she read says the people had to hold on to the stones looking at the witnesses who would watch till the that of the lying party turned red and the other remains white.
So why would he ask them to return the stone? unless he had some hidden plans.
The King tightens his hand. Although he had acted like he did not care earlier when General Thompson came to him that morning, he still went ahead and asked the priest to change the results.
As a king, he knew how bad his decision was but Julia was his favorite son and he had no plans to watch him die if he could do something to save him.