Understandably, he became nervous. "But that's a really good thing, right!? Of course we wants the next ruler to be a sigma." Anna shook her head. "Not quite. The next ruler will be a sigma. King Percival was born the second son of a concubine. He was not born as a sigma. That means that the royal palace elite know how to become sigma and simply hide it until the ruler is chosen. Knowing how much he genuinely loves Queen Cassandra, she would have made at least her son a sigma by now. It would cement his tenuous position. He is the son of the queen, but she is a beta who had him before he took the throne. Elisa's children have just as much legitimacy. All she has to do is have another child, but that's unlikely for a beta in her late 30s. Now here comes along 3 whole princes of a rival faction that have arguably stronger claims to the throne than Ion or Jannet. Percival already told us how no one in the court supported his bid. That's why he took foreign nobility and the poor Lynard Family as concubines. He is so petty. That man still has not leaked it."
Very clearly, she laid it out. "So this goes much deeper than I would have imagined. I thought it was a total myth until today." Layton breathed. "So to tie it all together, it's not good or bad yet. All eyes will be on our 3 princes from now on. Some will want to help them get on the throne. Some will want to hurt their chances. Others will start openly supporting other princes just to say they back a dark horse candidate. The only thing we can do is keep our wits about us and react." she finished. Reilly rubbed at his temples. "Alright. I wasn't planning to get fooled. What do we do now?" he asked tensely. Anna looked at Layton. "Lord Layton is our best diplomat. It's not like I can be there to bail you out. Let him take the lead and do the talking. If there's a question you don't know the answer to, defer to Layton and copy him. If you get directly asked by the king about this, don't hesitate to tell him I told you about it. At the end of the day, keeping you guys and the princes safe comes first." she said. "Lady Anna, I am very flattered by the faith you have in me." he said smiling.
When she heard that, she smiled too. "You constantly put your faith in us. Joining a coalition that would go nowhere isn't something you would do. You personally trusted me with Teigan's safety when I had offered to make him a sigma male. Coalitions only work on mutual trust. I trust you to get Reilly and the boys through this." she praised. He griped his cane. "Very true. It is time I started delivering some results for our faction." he said as he got up. "I need to make a couple of phone calls. Clear the boys' schedules. It's time to learn how to have a tea party. And we all need new outfits." "Geez. That invitation seemed pretty firm. I don't think you can run a whole etiquette course in a couple of days." Anna teased. He looked serious. "I wouldn't even try that. When I teach, they learn. You don't have best record for reinforcing those teachings either. This royal tea party, however, is their royal debut to the others. They'll be experts in a few days. Bet on that." he said as a servant led him to a phone. It was best to leave him be. The mansion became a flurry of work.
