Chapter 397: Keep Pretending
Aiwass's response, from being packed into his briefcase to being delivered into the hands of the Minister of the Privy Council who was meeting in the Round Table Hall, did not take more than twenty minutes to be transmitted.
Just by opening and glancing at the reply letter, Minister Camelot drew a sharp breath, feeling as if something in his head was buzzing.
Blood pressure, blood pressure rose!
Aiwass had not used Queen Isabel's signature, but had directly signed his own name instead.
——But in fact, there was no essential difference.
After all, this was a document submitted according to procedure to Her Majesty the Queen, and at the moment Isabel was not even on Glass Island. According to the rules of Avalon, it was better to delay such matters and wait for Isabel to return before making an official response.
Aiwass was not the Seal Minister, and in theory, he should not have the right to view these documents.
Not only had he seen them, but he made no attempt to conceal it and straightforwardly signed his own name to replace the Queen in making the response—without a doubt, Queen Isabel had granted the powers of the Seal Minister to Aiwass.
Theoretically, the Minister of the Department of Care of Magical Creatures could indeed do such things.
As long as he had the Queen's direct authorization, he could be temporarily regarded as the minister of any department.
But it was not until he saw this reply letter that Minister Camelot finally realized something——
——Queen Isabel had indeed been overshadowed by Minister Moriarty!
Before this, Minister Camelot had some uncertainties... Isabel's behavior was so abrupt and abnormal, it was either because her previous performances were all a pretense, or someone was teaching her to act this way.
In other words...
Was Minister Moriarty a pet indulged by the young Queen, or a powerful minister manipulating Avalon from behind the scenes?
It seems, rather than the former, it was the latter.
But how to put it...
Minister Camelot actually breathed a sigh of relief.
He too had watched Isabel grow up from a young age.
If it was just Isabel's performance before, if her true nature was that of a cold and rational strong figure, then that would be too painful... It's tantamount to clearly telling you, I've always been on guard against you, and now I don't have to pretend anymore.
Now it could be confirmed that it was merely the puppeteering remote command from Minister Moriarty.
But on the other hand... the one who had outmaneuvered them was not the deeply thoughtful Queen Her Majesty. These old things, when combined, still struggled to match wits with the young man from afar.
Minister Camelot remembered Aiwass's always squinting eyes, his gentle smile. It made people associate him with a sly fox.
He felt a chill run down his spine.
Aiwass was only eighteen this year...
In Minister Camelot's view, he was just a child. His grandson was much older than Aiwass.
...Thus said.
His own position...
Minister Camelot contemplated in silence, folding the letter he had finished reading and placing it back into the briefcase. He straightened his posture, his eyes squinted as he maintained silence, listening to the chaos and noise inside the Round Table Hall.
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"Minister Moriarty still can't get out of bed?"
The surrounding ministers' dissatisfied accusations, "Her Majesty has already left, what excuse does he have to say he's ill?"
Then, ambiguous laughter came from the Round Table Hall.
"Perhaps he's just shy."
"Or maybe he was frightened yesterday, they say the murder scene was quite gruesome."
Someone casually said aloud, "Maybe the young man feels he doesn't fit in with us."
"Don't think like that," someone else chuckled softly, seemingly with a gentle explanation, "Maybe Little Aiwass knows that he's just a minister with no department, so he simply didn't attend the meeting. After all, the Minister of Care of Magical Creatures is ultimately a nominal position."
"If that's the case, then he's quite polite. He doesn't reach out for what isn't his."
"After all, he's a ward of the Moriarty Family, it's normal for him to be more understanding than his peers."
"Hey, he's already considered the head of household. Even Her Majesty has to call him Lord Moriarty..."
One seemingly friendly yet malicious voice after another echoed from all around.
In the Round Table Hall where Queen Her Majesty was not personally present, it was basically this kind of atmosphere.
Rather than serious discussions of state affairs, it was more like idle gossip and quarreling in the streets and alleyways. If it weren't for the Chief Knight to suppress them, they could fight several times a week.
Even with the Chief Knight's suppression, there were always knights who made enemies in the Round Table Hall and decided to duel each year.
"——Silence!"
The Guardian, sitting at the head, frowned and unhappily rang the bell in front of him.
His voice spread throughout the Round Table Hall, and the knights quieted down again.
They actually did not know Aiwass and naturally had no enmity. They simply felt that Aiwass had it too easy as a minister, in addition to the obvious favoritism shown by both Queen Sofia and Queen Isabel towards him, which resulted in some sense of imbalance in their hearts.
For most knights, Queen Isabel choosing Aiwass Moriarty, a minister of the Department of Care of Magical Creatures younger than herself, as her only "team," was practically an admission that she had no assistants or confidants. This was a very humble attitude, meaning "everything is negotiable, I need people's support."
Therefore, after Isabel joined the Round Table meeting and showed an unusually tough stance, they were confused.
...But soon some smart people realized that those who spoke up to mock Aiwass at this moment were almost all ministers and knights from the Tower Faction.