Walter had his head bowed from the beginning. Listening, he understood, that they would be letting the minister go later. He had no intention of letting the man recognize him the next day, if this did not work. Hearing the lady"s loss of words, he sighed inwardly; as he could tell it was already not going well. She had all the evidence, but could not strike fear in the heart of her hostage."The one she must not offend is the queen right?" Walter asked. The minister looked his way with a frown.
"You should be more worried about yourself. We"ve taken your entire family you know, what will happen to them is entirely up to you." Walter said.
The minister"s eyes still devoid of fear as he asked, "Who are you?"
"You miss the point. Not only do we have evidence of your treasonous act, we do of three more ministers." Walter said and the minister turned solemn.
"Of course, you are too worried about the queen to care what we might do. After all, you"ve got it all planned. Even if you agree to what we say, you will change your mind later and tell the queen. That way, she can return all the money, before we can take the evidence to the king." Walter said and the minister"s face fell. He was shocked how Walter knew what he had in mind. To him, this was nothing more than a child"s plan. What evidence? As long as they are faster, it will become slander. They could not harm the queen with such a plan and the queen in turn, would protect him.
"It"s true, It"s a stupid plot we"ve got here. But do you want to know a secret? the queen will not be returning that money. It"s all gone." Walter said and the minister"s eyes shrunk.
"What are you going on about? Nonsense!" the minister bellowed.
"Oh. So you don"t know what the queen did with the money you helped her take? How is that possible? You must know it was handed to the Mclears to keep amongst their countless wealth. Do you know what has become of the Mclears today?" Walter asked. The minister could suddenly not breathe. He tried to take in deep breaths but it failed him. He understood what it meant. Though the queen could ask her brother the king of Northern Lan to come faster with the gold to replace the one taken, Northern Lan was too far from the capital. By then, he would have already been executed. The queen could escape this with her formidable backing, but he certainly won"t! Who is to say the king won"t kill him to sedate his anger of being incapable of killing his queen? He trembled. Knowing that his family would be joining his fall, did not make it any better.
"Breathe, Official Yrum. This is a full proof plan. The capital will soon be chaotic, but do you know why we brought you here? We have chosen you to survive this." Walter said and the minister trembled; this time, not in fear but at the possibility of hope.
"You are a smart man that has seen it all. The queen was powerful, so you chose her side. But she will soon fall from grace. Do you intend to join her? I don"t think a man such as yourself has such blinding loyalty. If you did, you would not be here." Walter said.
"What do you want me to do?" the minister asked.
"You will produce evidence of the other three minister to back ours and the one who will take the fall for your incompetence in the ministry. When you have it, you will be the one to take it before the king when we tell you to." Walter said.
"Me?" the minister asked. He was not sure they would win, so putting him out there was a plan he was against.
"How else do you intend to show the king that you are trying to repent for your incompetence? Besides, I a.s.sure you, there are layers to this you have not seen. This is but one of many. The queen will fall; that will not change. You have been given a chance by this information, to choose a side." Walter said and the minister"s head dropped in surrender.