For several long seconds after Sonia’s words fell into the room, absolute silence reigned.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
It was the kind of stunned quiet that followed a lightning strike.
Then the storm came.
The entire table erupted.
Voices burst out all at once—ministers speaking over each other, council members leaning forward in disbelief, chairs scraping the marble floor as several people half-stood in shock.
“What did she say?”
“Did you hear that correctly?”
“The Crown Prince—”
“Impossible—”
“Wait—”
“Did she truly say—”
Excitement exploded through the room like wildfire.
Speculation.
Disbelief.
A rising frenzy of astonished whispers.
Because if what Sonia had just declared was true…
Then the future king had already been claimed by fate itself.
And not merely by an
