Chapter 388: Popular Choice

Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Popular Choice

Theron Aradia was visiting an imperial garden.

Nobody believed this was innocent.

Mezos had received the message twenty minutes earlier and had been staring at it ever since, seated at the end of the emperor’s council table with the expression of a man attempting to identify where exactly gardening became a security threat.

Severin leaned over enough to read the final line.

"He says he is comparing soil conditions."

"He does not care about soil."

"You said he wanted a garden."

"He wants something to occupy himself."

"That generally involves soil."

Mezos lowered his communicator.

"My father spent forty-six years in the Agaronian military. He does not simply wander around imperial gardens asking harmless questions about irrigation."

Across the room, Arik continued reading the document in front of him.

The emperor’s working office overlooked central Deira from the upper eastern wing, its broad windows admitting cold autumn sunlight across a room that had gradually become less formal since Arik began using it every day. Maps occupied one wall, two tablets lay charging beside the fireplace, and Liam’s forgotten coffee cup had somehow survived three days on the shelf behind Arik’s desk because nobody had yet dared decide whether it was abandoned.

Severin sat back.

"What do you think he is doing?"

"Reconnaissance."

"On roses?"

"Potentially."

Arik turned a page.

"Your father is retired."

Mezos looked at him.

"So is Cassian."

The door opened.

Cassian entered.

Silence followed.

Mezos slowly pointed at him.

"Thank you."

Cassian stopped beneath the doorway in a charcoal coat embroidered subtly at the cuffs and looked between the three men.

"I already regret coming."

Arik finally lifted his eyes from the report.

"You came voluntarily."

"That is what concerns me.

Severin gestured toward the empty chair beside him.

Cassian remained standing.

"No."

"Nobody asked anything."

"I know that tactic."

Arik smiled.

Cassian had become more visible over the past several days, although he continued guarding his retirement with impressive hostility. He attended the noble gathering, appeared twice at dinner, and had even entered the administrative wing yesterday without immediately reversing direction when he saw ministers.

Progress.

Unfortunately for him, Arik had noticed.

"The prime minister selection," Arik said.

Cassian’s suspicion deepened.

"I agreed to supervise the transition."

"Yes."

"Supervise."

"I heard you."

"Good."

Cassian took the chair at last.

Nuria had functioned without an official prime minister since Arik’s coronation. The temporary cabinet had been sufficient while ministries were rebuilt, parliament reorganized, old territorial structures restored, and decades of isolated administration dragged into a country suddenly conducting foreign policy again.

That temporary arrangement was becoming less temporary every week.

The parliament wanted a name.

The noble houses wanted a name more urgently because uncertainty prevented them from deciding whom to support, flatter, oppose, marry relatives to, or quietly complain about over expensive dinners.

Arik had been receiving recommendations for nearly a month.

He disliked almost all of them.

Cassian glanced toward the stack beside his elbow.

"How many nominations today?"

"Seventeen."

"Only?"

"Parliament sent six. The provincial councils sent four. Noble houses sent five, although two somehow nominated members of their own families."

Cassian looked deeply unsurprised.

"And the remaining two?"

"One academic."

"Reasonable."

"And someone nominated Kamal."

Severin laughed.

Cassian actually looked alarmed.

"Kamal would kill you."

"I am aware."

Mezos set aside his communicator.

"Who are you choosing?"

Arik leaned back in his chair.

"No one."

That caught Cassian’s attention.

"You need a prime minister."

"I know."

"You cannot leave the cabinet under temporary coordination indefinitely."

"I am not going to."

Cassian studied him.

Arik’s mouth curved.

Severin noticed first.

"Oh, I dislike that expression."

Mezos looked between them.

"What did he do?"

"I have done nothing."

"Yet," Severin said.

Arik pushed the nomination reports aside.

"I decided the people can choose."

The room went quiet.

Cassian blinked once.

"The people."

"Yes."

"As in parliament?"

"No."

"The provincial councils?"

"No."

Cassian leaned forward.

Arik looked entirely pleased with himself now.

"Every civilian citizen of Nuria aged twenty-one or older."

Mezos stared.

Severin’s eyebrows rose.

Cassian remained silent long enough that Arik began enjoying himself.

Finally, the former prime minister asked, "You want a national election."

"Yes."

"For prime minister."

"For five years."

Mezos sat back.

"That explains why parliament has been panicking."

"They do not know yet."

Severin looked toward Arik.

"They sense danger."

"Healthy instinct."

Cassian rubbed one hand slowly over his jaw.

"How are candidates selected?"

"Eligibility standards first. Citizenship, age, criminal history, financial disclosures, conflict reviews, minimum public-service or administrative experience."

"No noble requirement?"

"Obviously not."

Cassian’s mouth twitched.

Arik continued.

"Candidates collect signatures from citizens across multiple provinces rather than only their home district. Enough support places them on the ballot. Parliament can endorse whoever it wants. So can noble houses. They simply do not get the final decision."

Severin folded his arms.

"And the emperor?"

"I vote once."

Cassian looked at him.

"Once."

"Like everyone else."

Something dangerously close to delight appeared in Cassian’s expression.

Mezos noticed.

"You like this."

"I retired after spending more than a century watching noble factions behave as though ministerial appointments were hereditary hunting rights."

Cassian settled more comfortably into the chair.

"I adore this."

Arik smiled.

"I thought you might."

"The old houses will lose their minds."

"They will adapt."

"Some will attempt to influence the campaign."

"Of course."

"Some will spend obscene amounts of money."

"Campaign financing limits."

Cassian’s smile widened.

"Good."

Severin looked between them.

"This is becoming vindictive."

"It can be both democratic and satisfying," Cassian said.

Mezos considered the proposal more seriously.

"What power does the office receive?"

"The same constitutional authority already defined," Arik said. "Head of government administration, cabinet coordination, domestic legislative implementation, parliamentary liaison. Foreign sovereignty, defense command, the Core, and imperial constitutional powers remain where they are."

"With you."

"Yes."

Cassian nodded slowly.

That structure mattered.

The prime minister would govern, but not become a second sovereign.

"What happens if the winner is incompetent?"

Arik shrugged.

"Parliament retains confidence procedures. Constitutional removal still exists for misconduct. And five years later, citizens can throw them out."

Cassian laughed.

Mezos looked toward Severin.

"He really has been spending too much time with Liam."

Arik frowned.

"This was my idea."

"Liam has infected you with systems."

"That sentence makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense."

Cassian reached for one of the nomination packets and began flipping through it.

"When do you intend to announce this?"

"The election season begins next month."

All three men looked at him.

Arik’s smile returned.

"The public announcement goes out in three days."

Severin exhaled through his nose.

"You waited until now to tell security."

"You have three days."

"That is not reassuring."

"It is plenty of time."

Mezos picked up his communicator again.

"I am going to need crowd management protocols, candidate protection standards, regional coordination—"

Arik pointed at him.

"Do not become your father."

Mezos stopped.

Severin laughed so violently he had to turn away.

Cassian lowered the nomination file, visibly pleased.

"This may be the most entertaining thing you have done since returning."

"I thought you were helping supervise it."

"I am."

"That sounds like work."

Cassian’s expression hardened immediately.

"Temporary supervision."

"Of course."

"I mean it."

Arik nodded solemnly.

Cassian narrowed his eyes.

Across the table, Mezos’s communicator vibrated.

He checked the message.

His face flattened.

Severin leaned closer.

"What now?"

Mezos read aloud.

"Father says the eastern imperial gardens have inefficient drainage and he has spoken to the grounds director."

The room fell silent.

Then Cassian began laughing.

Mezos looked toward the ceiling.

"I knew he was not gardening."