Meeting

Boris followed Dominic closely, making sure he was steps behind him at all times but also a few feet away from him. He was being cautious, he was being curious, he was watching his target. Just... at a safe distance. 

He couldn't shake off the feeling even after hours passed since Dominic had woken up. Even though he had made sure to not set foot in front of Dominic until a few minutes before the meeting, even though he had made sure to not even think of him, even though he had kept his mind heavily preoccupied for the past hours, the moment he laid eyes on Dominic, the feeling came creeping back. His hand had trembled and his fingers tingled. 

He could still feel it at that moment as he followed Kalmin and Dominic as they walked to the meeting room. He could still feel the brush of soft fingers against his skin and the brightness in his eyes when his fingers had run over his skin. Trembles ran through his body at the thought putting his mind in a state of panic. 

Everything was moving way too fast for him to comprehend, his subtle change in feelings was so absurd that he was unable to wrap his mind around it. 

He looked up at the back of the person in front of him, his golden hair bouncing once in a while when he moved. He flinched when the golden head turned, his eyes looking away as the side profile of the person showed, and a moment before it faced forward, he would feel it, a notion just for a moment that he was looked at. 

Kalmin stepped forward and pulled open the doors to the meeting room, tall heavy white doors being pushed open to reveal a large room with bookshelf lining the walls, a tall table off to the right with a large map covering its entire surface and hanging from the ceiling, right above the large, long table lined with chairs, was a chandelier illuminating the room.

Standing at different corners of the room, either in groups or by themselves, were men and two women. Boris' eyes surveyed the room. 'The council..' he thought to himself. 

There were 20 people in the room, 10 in suits designed with a different color than the other 10, the only three women in the room wore blue but yet stood far from each other. Boris looked at the positions they were in, most of the men near the table with the map and an elderly woman near a bookshelf by herself while the other women stood in the middle of two groups of men around the table. 

They all looked up once the door opened, murmurs that were filled the room were immediately silenced. 

"Your highness!" They all bowed their head in greeting. 

Dominic gave a brief nod before continuing forward, his steps barely audible to the ears. Boris glanced at him, his eyes observing Dominic as he stepped closer to the council. He looked away from Dominic, his golden eyes glowing with certainty.

He had never seen Dominic so stern and since he entered the palace. It was a comforting feeling, distracting him from the underlying uncertain emotions he felt when he looked at him. 

The air in the room was by no means comfortable, in fact, it was hard to breathe in, but that was what made it nice. Each step Dominic took was filled with conviction, a certain confidence that reassured those who followed behind him. 

'It's a bit weird though,' Boris thought to himself as he looked down at Dominic's head. It was the first time he had ever seen Dominic like that. The first time he had ever seen him so serious, so... princely. It was a bit unnerving. Refreshing, but unnerving.

"Take a seat," Dominic called out, the councils soon filing to each of their seats, all the members dressed in blue to one side of the long table and the others dressed in red on the other side. Dominic sat down in his seat and immediately after, the councils followed, all seating down. 

Boris turned to Kalmin, observing his outfit. Unlike the other council members, there was a different color in his coat. Green. Boris turned back to the council members sitting at the table, his eyes quickly counting all of those present at the meeting. 20 seated at the table. There weren't any missing members. 'But then what is Kalmin?' Boris thought to himself as Kalmin pulled open a chair and took a seat to the right of Dominic. That made 21 council members seated at the table. 

"Council Leader," Dominic muttered, nodding his head at Kalmin who promptly cleared his throat. 

"This is a general affair and urgent matter meeting to discuss the recent event of yesterday night and of these past few weeks," Kalmin announced, his voice high above the meeting. "We shall start with the discussion of the attack."

With that, a hand raised at the table, and all heads turned to look at it. A lady looked up at Dominic, her expression stoic and intense, her face holding the urgency of someone who had been prohibited to speak for months and the calmness of one who had faced everything in life. 

"Speak, Finance Advisor Helen," Dominic called out, allowing her to speak. 

"Thank you, your highness," The lady nodded, her eye scanning the table before she began her talk, "I have to mention the significant loss in the amount of money that we have lost over these weeks. The trading system has been slowly declining over time as the kingdom is still suffering from the loss of the king."

She turned back to Dominic. "I'm afraid, your highness, that if we keep this up, saving for next year will have to be taken to fix all the damage that took place during the attack."

Dominic nodded his head, turning to the last person seated at the right hand of the table. "Speaking of damage, how is the reconstruction of the palace and kingdom going, advisor Phillip."

Phillip looked up at Dominic. "Not that well, your highness. We have made some significant progress through the days of fixing up the palace but the kingdom itself had faced some damage that I'm not sure might be able to-"

Dominic turned to the other side of the table, his eyes locking on the last person seated on the left side. "Second Building advisor Hendrickson?" he called out, his voice cutting out Phillip's words. "You were in charge of the construction there, what is the progress?"

Hendrickson shook his head in dismay. "In terms of percentage, I would have to say about 45 percent of the damage has been fixed. Funding to fix all of the damages to the kingdom is very thin so reconstruction has been taking quite a lot of time to fulfill."

"That bad?" Dominic tilted his head to the side.

Hendrickson nods his head. "I'm afraid we might have to stop the project altogether."

"That's not going to happen," Dominic refuted with such a stern push that Boris glanced down at him for a moment. 

Dominic sat in silence for a moment before turning to the person seated in the seventh chair to the right. "Public Advisor Wattson, I heard you recently took a tour of the kingdom the last time you left your mansion. What did the people's views on your presence look like."

Wattson shook his head. "To sum it up, it was negative. The lack of improvement to the kingdom roads and damage has taken a toll on the spirits of the people."

"Arthur?" Dominic called out to the person seated beside Phillip. 

"The feedback from the people has been low too. Since there isn't much produce for them even buy, most of the money we are getting back is from the nobles," Arthur reported. 

Dominic leaned back in his seat, his eyebrows furrowing for a moment. 

"Maybe we should consider cutting back on the construction in order to have enough money to be able to feed the people instead? If we are unable to put food on their table, we won't have enough to give to the construction," Phillip suggested. 

Dominic sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought. Boris glanced down at him, his eyes glowing as he observed Dominic. His shoulders tensed. 'He's going to cut back on the construction isn't he?' Boris thought to himself, 'but if he's unable to rebuild the kingdom and even add more places, they won't be houses for people on the street to live in. Forget eating, the people would be homeless and penniless before they can even eat.' Seconds passed before he turned back to look forward. He sucked in a breath as Dominic sat up. 

"Give me a summary on the spending this past year, Helen," Dominic instructed to which shuffles from Helen followed as she pulled out a big book from the ground beside her and began flipping through it. 

"First we have the spending of the-" Helen began. 

"No, a summary," Dominic interrupted, his hand pressing into the side of his head. He could feel it growing. His headache. 

Boris looked down at him. 

"Ah..." Helen muttered, pausing for a moment before flipping to the back of the book. She traced the lines down to the bottom of the page and cleared her throat. "50% of the money spent was used on the royal palace, including the paying of palace resides, 30% of the spending used on paying nobility and their expenses and 20% using on developing the kingdom."

Dominic flinched, his face twisting in disbelief. His mind travels back to the night before when he talked to the nobles. He turned back to Helen, a mix of disgust and certainty in his eyes. 

"In preparation for the finance meeting we shall have in the future, please start preparing yourself and your assistant-" Dominic turned to the left side of the table, "you too second finance advisor Ethan and your assistant, for a rearrangement of the distributions."

Ethan's eyebrow raised at Dominic's comment. "Pardon the intrusion, but excuse me, your highness?" Ethan spoke up, "the share of last year was able to deliver results. Any tip in the system might result in imbalances that will cause the king-"

"That's your job to handle isn't it?" Dominic interrupted. 

"Pardon me, your highness?" Ethan flinched. 

"You weren't put in that seat for no reason. It's been how many years, Ethan Saul, for years that are half my age. You're more than capable to be able to find ways to change the distribution," Dominic commented, his words silencing Ethan. 

Helen raised her hands, her eyes locking with Dominic. "Your highness, how much of a change to the system do you wish to make?"

Dominic thought about it for a moment before speaking up. "It came to my attention last night as a drifted through the clouds of people, how lavishly dressed most were. Each piece they wore seemed to probably cost more than a commoner could eat in a year," Dominic muttered, "we may value the nobles but the only reason why they are able to give back is that they have more money than the commoners could ever wish. it's only 20% off what we spend on the palace, doesn't that seem outrageous? Or are your lives too decorated to realize that?"

The room laid in awkward silence. 

Dominic smiled, his eyes piercing into everyone in the room. "Lower the share of the nobles by ten percent and add it to the money spent on the kingdom. The same for the money spent on the kingdom. Take away 10 percent and add it to the kingdom."

"Huh?!" Charles Morel, the second assistant finance advisor yelped, immediately covering up his mouth after his gasp. 

"Do you have something against that?" Dominic asked, his eyebrows rising. 

Silence sat on top of the council for a moment before a voice sighed. 

"I think their concern comes to being the force you are placing on the kingdom," said a mature voice, "I understand that the kingdom does need a lot of help as of right now, but for the nobles, them being one of the main sources of our finances, they might get de-motivated and stop wanting to support the kingdom."

"Then that comes down to you, Second Head Anatinez and first and second main advisors, Noah and Frank," Dominic retorted, "I understand your concern with my choices but for long we have overlooked the amount of overspending some nobles go through while the commoners starve. Even if it's for a little while, I think the kingdom deserves an upper hand in support."

"Then what about the attack and the soldiers lost from it?" commented an advisor sitting beside Noah, the eldest in the council, "there needs to be some sort of condolences given back to the families for the loss of their family members."

"Do you think any amount of money we give them will be able to suffice for the members they have lost?" Dominic asked.

The advisor shook his head. 

"A ceremony to celebrate their death," Dominic muttered under his breath before looking up at the people in front of him. "Have we ever done a memorial for them?"

Arthur shook his head. "We simply compensate them with money."

Dominic shook his head in dismay, "If they were able to send their sons and fathers into the palace guard in such a dangerous job, aren't we doing their loyalty a dishonor by simply repaying them with a few sheets of paper?" Dominic continued, turning his head to Hendrickson, "is there any large land in the kingdom that is currently empty or unoccupied by people?"

Hendrickson nodded his head. "Yes, the grass fields near the kingdom walls," he replied.

"Turn those fields into a special burial ground for those lost in a battle for the kingdom," Dominic instructed. 

"But your highness we already have a burial ground in the kingdom," said Jacob Sav'l, the second Public advisor. 

"And that land was recently bought by a noble to build a mansion and some other building on," added Ethan.

"As I mentioned before, the nobles have too much of a share in the kingdom. Deny the exchange of property and carry on with the ceremony," Dominic snapped, "compensate them with a horse or two. Nobles like to have a good horse collection."

On both sides of the table, two heads lower and begin to scribble on sheets of paper. 

"We shall bury all the lost souls in those special grounds and make sure to have a ceremony celebrating their contributions to the kingdom before burying them," Dominic continued, turning to a lady seated beside Aurthur, "I'll leave that to you Planning advisor Feline to make a date in which the ceremony will take place and to you, second planning advisor, Logan, to mark the area of the land and figure out where each soldier will be placed and a way to show whom is where."

Feline and Logan nodded their heads to Dominic's order. 

"Second assistant finance advisor Charles, I want you to supervise this event and make sure that everything goes well for the ceremony and be sure to keep a watch on the spending. I will be checking in on weekly reports to keep check myself," Dominic smiled.

Dominic paused for a second, looking around the room. "Does everyone understand?" he asked. After a brief 'yes' from the advisors, he turned to look at Kalmin. 

"Next is the topic of the coronation which is coming up right around the corner for our prince," Kalmin announced as he wrote down something on the piece of paper in his hands. 

"I think the coronation should be moved forward," commented Sebastian Connel, the second, second head of the council as he looked around the table. "The kingdom is in a state of disaster as we speak, what better way to elevate the spirits of the people than to celebrate the rising of the new king?"

"You mean what better way to spend the rest of the resources we have at hand," Anatinez slid in, returning Sebastian's words, "a sense of renewal would be great for this time but a celebration for a new king is the most expensive celebration a kingdom ever has. We may have the spirits back but without funds to keep the kingdom alive, we'd just plummet into a new low immediately."

"Which is why the coronation needs to be pushed back," commented Helen, backing up Anatinez's comment, "we can't have a kingdom that has restored its fate in us just to be let down by the loss of funds the kingdom has to actually fulfill a good reign of a new King. There's nothing worse than starting off a new reign badly. It can lead to ripples of attempted coups and rebellions." 

"Oh please," Hendrickson interrupted, "women always have a sense of hesitancy in their suggestions. Always fearful. Then what are we supposed to do then? Just sit back and do nothing? The prince HAS to enter the throne."

"Are you going to say the prince must marry next?" shot Limar, the Saftey advisor, "it's not just because of money shortages that the prince can't marry, there's also the issue about yesterday's incident!"

"The prince needs a sturdy wedding in order to reassure the people of the kingdom that it will be o and we have a reliable royal family to lead them!" Frank rebutted, "without a queen by his side and not having the guidance of his father, do you think the prince will be taken seriously by the people? They'll judge his choices because he is driving forward alone."

"Once again raising a point that would result in a lot of spending," Helen chimed in. Her words were flossed over.

"Especially with Princess Claudia's background," Augustine retorted, the second Economic advisor, "she comes from a stable family-"

"-in which the kingdom had a feud with," Arthur interrupted. 

"-that can be able to support the kingdom as it rebuilds itself," Augustine continued, throwing a glare at Arthur.

"So you're going to ignore the fact that the prince got poisoned while being in the princess' presence?" Limar snapped, "the prince, OUR Prince, OUR future king got poisoned during his meal with Princess Claudia. I and Connor found traces of some maca in the substances used to make the candles. Maca! That's an aphrodisiac not to mention the food poisoning."

"Aphrodisiacs are common tactics people take or use in order to get their love ones to bed," Jacob jumped in.

"So now it's ok for the princess to poison our prince because she wanted to have her first night with him?" Helen snapped.

"You should know, you are a woman aftera-" Hendrickson rolled his eyes.

"Why're we arguing over such a subject?" a voice muttered, sending chills through the room immediately. "Is this not a concern of the prince? Let's hear our precious prince's thoughts on the situation."

A smirk formed on the figure's face. A rugged, handsome face, worn down from the stresses of battle and scars of victory. It was Grayson H. Hanes.

His gray head of hair cocked to the side and he smirked, his gray eyes staring directly into Dominics. "That is, if he isn't too busy fantasizing about the princess or thinking about the hours he spends glued to her side like a magnet is to metal."