Approval

The meeting did not end after the king approved the project.

If anything, that was the moment the real discussion began.

Servants entered carrying additional chairs while attendants rolled maps across the large conference table. Officials who had not even been present during the demonstration somehow began appearing one after another as word spread through the palace. By the time Ernest looked around the room, he realized the gathering had transformed from a royal audience into something much larger.

It had become a planning session.

The Minister of Finance arrived first, followed shortly by the Ministers of Trade and Infrastructure. Representatives from the Royal Army appeared next, along with several naval officers from the Admiralty. Clerks carrying notebooks squeezed into whatever space remained while aides lined the walls with ink and parchment ready to record every decision.