At nine in the evening, the banquet ended. Velin rose, greeted the two of them, picked up the five unopened bottles of Pota Wine, and followed the crowd toward the palace gates.
By convention, once a new king ascended the throne, the ministers had to be appointed anew.
First came the Palace Steward, whose primary duties were overseeing the king's daily life, palace affairs, ceremonial arrangements, and important itineraries. This position was generally held by the new king's maternal uncle; if there was none, someone would be selected from a collateral branch of the royal family. Outsiders were almost never appointed.
Next were the Finance Minister, Legal Minister, Interior Minister, and Foreign Minister, collectively known as the Four Pillars of the Court.
The Finance Minister managed the kingdom's taxes, tariffs, coinage, and the material levies imposed on nobles. Most came from honorary noble families that had served the royal house for generations, such as the Asterix Family that Babula came from.
Barring any surprises, the Legal Minister was generally chosen from the Minister of Merit Verification serving under the previous king.
The Interior Minister was the most overworked of the four ministers, and was famously burdened with the most affairs and abuse. Not only did he have to oversee the entire kingdom's administration, he also had to mediate disputes between great nobles. In other words, aside from matters requiring the king's approval, the Interior Minister handled nearly everything.
There was no fixed criterion for selecting this position. Its holders had included kingdom nobles, church priests, scholars, royals, commoners, and even people from other countries.
It was not because the Ilia Kingdom was so open-minded in recruiting talent, but because no Interior Minister could last very long before resigning.
According to incomplete statistics, during Belgrave's reign, there had been thirty-seven Interior