"What?!"
"What did His Majesty just say?"
"I think I heard... abdicate?"
The ministers were visibly stunned by the emperor's words. Once they came to their senses, their expressions changed drastically, and they all dropped to their knees.
Each of them lowered his head, staring at the patterns on the marble floor with alarmed faces, inwardly regretting why they had remained in the hall instead of staying at the harbor to oversee the troops and maintain order.
They had known His Majesty was never one to sit quietly and that he would surely stir up trouble at the banquet, but they had never imagined that today's announcement would be so earth-shattering.
They only hated that they had ears—ears that had heard such a shocking, outrageous declaration.